Alive In The Light
by LoudAutomata16
Summary: When an older Lily falls in forbidden love with Lucy, it sets them both on a path of romance and intrigue.
1. Chapter 1

**A while back, I was PM'ed by someone going by the nickname Hell's Warrior with a story prompt. I don't like doing too many requests (honestly I don't even like looking at my PMs that often), but this was too good to ignore. **

**The story is set in an AU, where an older Lucy and a **_**much **_**older Lily fall in love. There's also other fun stuff going on in the background. I'll let the story speak for itself, but if Loudcest, horror, age-swap, violence, yuri romance, and an older Lily who's into grunge sounds like your type of scene, then this story is for you.**

**Ages; Lori: 20 **

**Leni: 19 **

**Luna: 18 **

**Luan: 16**

**Lynn: 16 (Not twins, though)**

**Lucy: 15 **

**Lincoln: 14**

**Lily: 13 **

**Lola/Lana: 11 **

**Lisa: 8**

* * *

The words "Once Upon a Time" kept popping into her mind.

Lucy scowled. She couldn't start her story with that old cliché. No way. That being said, the blank page sitting on her desk was pleading with her to write on it, to reach for her pen and empty the tool's inky insides in the form of lines and symbols that could be recognized as words that would form sentences that would narrate a tale... which basically meant that she needed to start writing her story soon. Her idea had been eating at her for months now and if she didn't get it out on the page, she wouldn't be able to sleep.

And every story needs a beginning line. And that one was the only one that kept coming to her.

_Once Upon a Time._

She looked over at Lily, her muse, for inspiration. The blonde teenage girl was fast asleep, snoring softly, undisturbed by the flickering candlelight Lucy kept on her desk to evoke that Romantic notion of "writing by soft candlelight". A necklace hung around her neck, and Lucy appreciated the gesture. That necklace would be in the story she planned to write. Mostly because the story would be about _her_.

Lucy wanted to record everything the two of them had been through. The trials, the tribulations… all of it leading to… whatever the relationship they had now could be called.

Lily stirred, sensing she was being watched. One of her blue eyes opened and she looked at Lucy. "What are you doing?" she asked in her delicate voice.

"Trying to write. Emphasis on trying. Sigh."

"What's the problem?"

"I can't think of a good opening line. It's killing me," the goth complained. She was unconsciously tapping her pen on the page now, staining it with a blotch of black ink.

"Just… just write the first thing that comes to your mind," Lily advised her. She then yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. She didn't need to, of course. Most people found yawns contagious, but Lucy never seemed to catch anyone else's yawn. She rarely yawned on her own.

"But..."

"Lucy, you're doing that thing again. Being a perfectionist. Just go with the flow, or you'll never get anything done."

She was right, and the older girl knew it.

"Anyways, goodnight," Lily mumbled, her eyes closing and her body flipping over so that her face didn't have to face the fire.

With another sigh, this time less verbalized, Lucy looked down at the paper before her. She frowned when she noticed that she had ruined it with her rhythmic tapping. She replaced the paper, and shrugged. "Maybe when I finish, I can go back and change it. Just need to get words on the page."

She put her pen down, and began to write.

* * *

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Lily, standing in the shower.

Hot water poured down on the young girl as she twirled underneath it like a dancer. She let the vapors of steam treat her pores and, when the time was right, reached for the shampoo bottle and poured some on her hands and head. She scrubbed it into her blonde hair, hissing lightly as some of the shampoo dripped into her eye. "Ouch," she cried as she rubbed her eye, making the irritation worse.

This was why she saved shampooing for the end of her showers.

She blindly fumbled to close the shower and jumped out of the tub, finding her towel and rubbing her face clean. "I can see again!" she triumphantly declared to no one. She then cleaned the rest of her body and hair, and after a few moments she heard a knock at the door. "Just a minute!" she yelled to whoever it was, resuming her scrubbing. The knocking intensified, and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Alright, fine."

She put on her clothes, starting with her light purple panties, before tossing a pair of ripped jeans on top of them. She clasped her bra around her back, and then stuffed her head and arms into a flannel shirt. Finally, Lily put on a stained silver chain around her neck. She doubted it was real silver, seeing how she bought it off a mall grifter, but it looked cool enough to her.

She took a moment to admire herself in the steamy mirror. Luna had once claimed that her typical style was "grunge personified". If anything, she was being tame right now. Just wait until she put on her Alice in Chains shirt.

Lily opened the door to the bathroom and looked down at the sibling who dared interrupt her morning shower time. It was, not to her surprise, her younger sister Lisa. "About time," the brunette said in a lisping voice. "I was about to bring my flamethrower and burn this door down."

"It's the morning, Lisa. We all have to be considerate of each other's bathroom rights. Like my right to wrap myself up in a fluffy towel in peace."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "I believe my right to relieve myself in a toilet instead on this carpet supersedes that."

"Nah. I'm older, so I get all the rights," Lily teased. She did step out of the way so her sister could do her business. As much as Lily liked to mess with her, she didn't want the eight year old's bladder to explode.

Before Lisa closed the door, she scowled at Lily. "As a woman who subscribes to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics, I believe there is a world out there in the multiverse where I am older than you. And I hope that the lucky Lisa in that world treats you as badly as you treat me."

Then she slammed the door shut. Lily frowned. How rude.

Lily went downstairs, where she immediately bumped into Luna. The rocker smiled down at her protege. "Hey, sis, looking good."

"Thanks, Luna. Oh, that reminds me… I've been meaning to give you this back," said Lily as she reached into her back pocket. She pulled out a small album case, and handed it to Luna. "It's the Nirvana album you loaned me a while back. _In Utero. _Really loved it. Thanks, Lunes."

A soft smile touched Luna lips. If there was any sister that Luna felt close to, it was Lily. Hobbies and intersts rarely repeated in their family, and while it was nice having a diverse set of interests around the house, it was also really nice to have someone who shared your passion. When Luna had convinced Lily to listen to one song with her, all those weeks ago, she was beyond thrilled to hear that her younger sister had loved it, and wanted more. Since then, Lily was flooded by Luna's suggestions of good music to listen to.

"I'm glad you liked Nirvana, Lily. I would've punched you out if you didn't," Luna said, half-joking and half-serious. "But you know what?"

"What?"

Luna's smile grew significantly more sisterly. "You keep it. Consider it an early bday gift from me."

Lily stopped for a moment, until the realization hit her.

_Oh right… tomorrow's my birthday. Tomorrow I turn thirteen. _

It was… pretty weird. Lily knew that the number had nothing special about it, but there was something attached to the number thirteen that made her pause. Maybe it was the special emphasis most societies put on it. Eleven and twelve were fine and dandy, but _thirteen _is when you really become a teen. Thirteen is when you become a real woman. The thought excited Lily and terrified her at the same time.

But she didn't let any of that show. Instead she smiled and said, "Thank you so much, Lunes."

"Happy Birthmas Eve, sis," Luna rasped as she hugged her sister tightly.

When they broke the hug, they went into the kitchen together to find four of their siblings sitting around the table. Lynn, Lincoln, Lori and Lucy, sitting in that order. The sporty girl was munching down on a sports bar, while her younger brother ate his cereal at a quiet pace. Lori ate nothing, instead sipping on her coffee with the nastiest look on her face, as if she smelled something particularly foul.

And then there was Lucy.

Lucy raised her gaze from the burnt eggs she was poking at to look at Lily's soft face. The blonde shuddered, and murmured, "Good morning," to everyone in the kitchen, but especially to her.

"Good morning Lily," said three out of the four siblings in unison. Lori didn't say anything. Her cup was pressed on her lips.

"Hey, what the hell? I don't get a greeting too," complained Luna.

"She got one because she greeted us first," Lynn said matter-of-factly.

"Whatever. Anyone got any good cereal? I'm hungry like the wolf, dudes."

"There's some Cookie Crisps in the counter," Lincoln said before grabbing his bowl of milk and slurping it down. He let out a satisfied sigh when he set the bowl down, and wiped his milk mustache before he continued. "There's also some Honey Bunches and Raisin Bran. We had Cheerios, but Lana ate the last bowl."

"Aw man. And there's not even a place to eat my crappy Cookie Crisps!"

"You can sit here," said Lynn, wiping her mouth of crumbs from her breakfast. "And Lily can sit in my place. Lincoln's about to join me for some… morning exercises. Right, Lincoln~?"

Lynn threw him a flirtatious look, her honey-colored eyes dripped with want. She blinked rapidly, fluttering her long eyelashes, and the young man turned his face, hiding the color that bloomed from his blush.

This behavior might seem strange in most siblings, but things were different with Lincoln and Lynn.

For you see, Lincoln and Lynn were dating.

It was an open secret in the Loud House, and the two of them barely put up the act of pretending to be a normal brother and sister pair. They would still deny it if pressed, but the whole household knew of their love. The walls were thin, and every now and then, a womanly moan would fly through the hallways, and their siblings knew that Lynn was sheathing Lincoln inside her.

The jock and nerd skittered off, and Luna shuddered with discomfort. She wanted to be supportive of them, just like they had been supportive of her homosexual relations with the lovely Sam, but deep down it still shook her. The other three sisters had different reactions. Lori and Lucy were apathetic. And Lily… well, Lily's perspective would need some explanation.

Lily was, as mentioned before, almost thirteen. And in those years of pubescence, it isn't unnatural for certain... _curiosities_ to overtake a growing woman's body. And in those months when her growing breasts and hips hurt the most, Lily couldn't help but wonder how much more soothing it would feel if someone was rubbing them.

And, having no crushes at school or rock stars she found especially attractive, her imagination wandered to her siblings.

It was disgusting, it was perverted, she _knew! _But Lynn and Lincoln showed her that maybe… maybe it wasn't so much. It was love, in the end, and who could object to love?

_Everyone. The answer is everyone if you plan to find love Confederate-style._

Lily sighed as she slumped into her seat, sitting right between Lori and Luna. The eldest sister took one look at Lily and, for a moment, angry fire blazed in her eyes. But it died down as quickly as it appeared. Instead, Lori lifted her upper lip in disgust. She stood up and walked away, leaving her coffee alone and forlorn on the table. A hand reached over to grasp it, the fingers on said hand painted a shiny shade of black, and Lily knew it was Lucy grabbing it.

Lily couldn't see Lucy's eyes. They were obscured behind her raven hair, and had been that way ever since she was a moody little baby. But Lily had heard from Lola, who heard from Leni, who heard from Lincoln, who heard from… actually, no one knew who spread the story, but the story went that Lynn one time awoke in the middle of the night and tried to peer at Lucy's eyes to satisfy her curiosity. She brushed aside the strands of hair, and opened one of the sleeping eyes with her fingers... only to find nothing but a gaping cavity where her eye should be!

Lily doubted that story was true. "That would make a cool album cover, though," she said aloud.

"What would make a cool cover?" asking Luna as she scooped up her first spoonful of cereal.

"What? Oh, n-nothing," Lily stammered, her cheeks turning pink.

She spent the rest of the day not dwelling upon it. Why would she? It wasn't like Lucy was constantly on her mind or anything. Lily knew for a fact that her Gothic older sister wasn't always on her mind. Wanna know how she knew? She counted the number of times the fifteen year old's soft face, curvy frame, or beautiful black dress popped into her mind, and it was only _twelve _times.

Technically it was thirteen, but that was only because Lucy had popped up behind her and Leni while the two were arguing about whether Australia was a country or a continent. "It's both," she told them in her ghastly voice. For some reason, the image of Lucy as a black koala showed up in Lily's mind, and the blonde thought it was funny.

The day passed, and before anyone realized it, nightfall.

The siblings all retired to their rooms. Lori, as a twenty year old, had planned to move out two years ago, but the high cost of living in capitalist America forced her back home, where she took the garage. She would've moved back into her own room with Leni, were it not for the fact that Lily had taken her spot. Her side of the room was barely recognizable. It was transformed by the hands of the two music fans of the family, who put up posters of Radiohead and Breaking Benjamin, and littered it with tangled earphones and a few instruments.

Lori grumbled angrily when she realized she wouldn't be let back into her room. It wasn't the first injustice Lily had delivered onto her, but that part of the story will be revealed later.

Besides them was the room of Luna and Luan. Not much to note. The room that followed was supposedly shared by Lynn and Lucy, but was _de facto _the Lynncoln room. It was the… noisiest at night. And when darkness fell, Lucy would wander the hall like a lost Israelite before she found her place sleeping down the hall, where her younger brother had once slept.

And then there was the final room, which was the also largest. It was the largest because it roomed three; Lana, Lola and Lisa. It was a very cramped room, between Lana's animals, Lola's mirrors, and Lisa's machines. The problem could've been alleviated if one of them decided to bunk with Lucy, but none of them wanted to be in the same room as a skull-decorated coffin. That was too morbid, even for Lisa.

And then, of course, there was a humble linen closet, standing directly opposed to the bathroom. It was barely used.

The main takeaway here, dear reader, is that Lily slept in the same room as Leni. And that Lucy slept alone, with only her bats for roommates. Sigh.

In her room, Lily could barely sleep. Her heart raced as she stared at the ceiling, thinking about how in a few hours, she would be thirteen. Nothing cool was going to happen, surely. It's not like some friendly giant would burst through the wall and tell her, _"Congrats, Lily, you're a witch. Pack your things, you're going to Hogwarts. Make sure you don't get in Slytherin, or else we'll all know you're a Nazi."_

Her lips curled into a smile. Out of all the movies Lincoln had shown her, the Harry Potter films were the only ones she was thankful for seeing.

"I really can't sleep," she said to herself, reaching down to her phone. Midnight was ten minutes away. The last ten minutes of being twelve. Oh, how would she spend it?

The girl ducked under her covers and typed her passcode into her phone. She licked her lips as she opened up her music library. Some people thought about which song they would play in the last minutes of their lives at some point, and now Lily was wishing she had done the same. Only for the last minutes of her childhood instead.

"Come on, come on, there has to be something fitting."

She could've played anything, but she wanted something good for the moment. Guess she cared more about her birthday than she let on.

Then, just as she was about to give up, her thumb landed on the perfect song.

Lily grinned and reached for her earphones. They were tangled, so she took a few seconds to unravel them just enough to make them not annoying. She plugged the jack inside, popped the two buds into her ears, and lay back as the soft styling of Green Day filled her ears…

_Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road_

_Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go_

_So make the best of this test and don't ask why_

_It's not a question, but a lesson leaned in time_

_It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life_

She checked the clock again after that line. One minute after midnight.

"I did have the time of my life," she whispered softly and fondly, as if talking to an invisible and dear friend. "And hopefully when I play this again at the end of my teen years… I'll have had the time of my life again. And... maybe this time not by myself."

When she said that, she thought of someone.

_Guess that makes it thirteen. No, wait, today's a new day. So that makes it the first time I've thought of Lucy today._


	2. Chapter 2

**anonymous789: haha I'm glad someone caught that. As for your question, Lynn and Luan in this story are what're known as Irish twins: siblings born in the same year, but several months apart. It sometimes happens in larger families. **

* * *

She was being violently shaken! Lily's thoughts were naturally thoughts of terror!

_Earthquake! Tornado! The Rapture! It's going to be a Metalpocalypse out there!_

It was, of course, none of those things. It wasn't an act of God that stirred Lily from her sleep, but instead the act of a cinnamon roll.

"Happy birthday, Lily!" cheered Leni when she finally saw Lily's eyelids peel back to reveal the blue irises hidden underneath. Leni's voice was a little unclear for a moment, until Lily realized she still had her earphones stuffed in her ears. She pulled them out and smiled at her older sister. "Thanks Leni. You really didn't have to wake me up, though," she said. Her words were a bit strained. She was tired and there was still phlegm in her throat.

Leni shook her head, her blonde hair flying from side to side. "Nuh uh. Today's your special day of the year. You, like, have to make the most out of it. That's why I woke you up at five o'clock!"

"Five o'clock?!" Lily cried, checking the time on her phone. The battery was dead, so her eyes looked up at the ticking clock hanging above the door of their room. True to Leni's words, it was five in the morn. Leni pulled back the curtains, giving the rising sun a chance to bathe the room in its reddish glow. To Leni, it was absolutely beautiful. To Lily, it looked like hellfire. Because that's what it felt like to wake up at five; like hell.

Lily tried to go back to sleep, but Leni shook her head. She ripped the blanket off of Lily's bed, forcing the young girl to jump up and wrestle it from the grips of her older sister. But by then, the adrenaline kept her awake and alert, so she might as well not have done that.

"Meanie," said Leni with a pout. "Now I'm thinking about not giving you your present."

Lily perked up at the word, and Leni shrugged. "Oh, who am I kidding? It's your birthday. I can't keep something from you. Here, let me go grab it from the closet..."

Leni walked over to the closet, doing that weird dinosaur walk that no one knew why she did, and bent over to pull Lily's present out from under a pile of mall bags. She spun around with a beaming smile on her face, and Lily saw that it was a small box in her hands, wrapped up with a nice little bow and everything.

Of course, the wrapping paper depicted trees, reindeer and jolly fat men in red, but Lily chose not to take issue with that.

She dropped it in Lily's lap, and Lily's eyes widened as her oval fingers scraped the wrapping paper. "Well, go on. Open it," Leni encouraged. Lily took a deep breath, and unwrapped her present. She reached into the box and pulled out a pair of light blue jeans. They were clearly her size, and best of all, they were slashed down the middle where her knees would be.

"Surprise! I don't really like ruining my designs by cutting them like that, but since it's your birthday, I decided to," Leni explained with an excited giggle. She then calmed herself, and asked Lily in a more careful tone, "Um, do you like it?"

"Like it? Leni… I love it," Lily said.

The two sisters hugged, and Leni asked her to try it on. Lily put her new jeans on and was surprised to feel how well they fit. Not only did they fit, but they were totes the perfect size. But then again, maybe she shouldn't have been so surprised. This was Leni's handiwork, after all. Leni couldn't solve a math problem when it was presented to her on paper, but in practice, her geometric precision rivaled the Greeks and Indians that came up with geometry in the first place.

Leni wished her a happy birthday for the second time, and skipped off to make herself something nice to drink. Lily was left to decide which shirt she would wear to match the perfect pair of pants. She eventually decided on an Alice in Chains shirt, which hugged her developing body tightly. Thankfully, her boobs were still mosquito bites, so it didn't trouble her to breathe.

"I wonder what's next on the menu," Lily said to herself. Breakfast was probably in order. And knowing her family, breakfast on a birthday was always…

"Pancakes!" Lily cried when she entered the kitchen (about an hour later, she ended up passing out on the floor) and found Lynn standing at the stove. A chef's hat was planted on her head, and an apron was wrapped around her jersey. The freckled teen spun around and grinned widely at the sight of her younger sister.

"That's right, Lils. Pancakes for the birthday girl. I'll even throw on some whipped cream if you want. And some strawberry syrup. Just some red juice to represent your… you know..."

Lynn pointed at her crotch. She meant period. Very mature.

"Whipped cream is fine, thanks."

Two pancakes went soaring through the air, both with chocolate chips baked into them. They landed on a plate Lynn was holding, and with her gymnastic precision, she got them both to land directly on top of each other. Nothing hung off the edge. She tossed the plate on the table, and with a karate cry, jumped up and sprayed the pancakes with whipped cream. She wiped a single sweat from her brow, and beamed at the result of her hard labor.

"Ta-da!"

"Thanks Lynn. I really love your pancakes," Lily said.

"Breakfast isn't the only thing I got for you. Me and Lincoln both chipped in and bought you something together. It's with him."

Lily immediately got up to run upstairs and get her present from him, but Lynn harshly barked "Hey!" Lily looked back at the freckled girl, and Lynn pointed at the pancakes with her spatula.

"Oh… right. Sorry," Lily giggled sheepishly.

She devoured her two flapjacks with a hunger that was hardly of this world. She thanked Lynn again, and the older girl responded by wrapping her arm around her sister's neck and giving her a noogie. It was a softer noogie than usual, so that was something. Lily dashed up the stairs, passing by Lola who mumbled a tired and slow "Happy birthday Leni or Lori or whichever one you are," before reaching her brother's room.

Um… wait, no, it's Lynn and Lucy's room. How could Lily have forgotten?

Regardless, it was the room she was likely to find him in, so she opened the door. And there was Lincoln, who turned to her with a smile on his face.

Lincoln was her closest sibling - at least in age - so it wasn't much of a surprise to know how much he had been looking forward to this day. He hugged her tightly and kissed her on her forehead. "Thirteen years old," he said with a proud smile. "Now that you've caught up to me, we're finally only one year apart instead of two."

"We're practically twins," said Lily with playful sarcasm.

A laugh erupted from Lincoln's throat. "Yeah, yeah, I know it doesn't mean much. Still, it's just cute seeing my little sis growing up. Time starts flying by around your age," he noted, and an odd look happened upon his face. It looked... reminiscent. "Thirteen years old… I turned thirteen years old once. That was the day Lynn first..."

His face flushed red.

Then he blinked, as if he just remembered Lily was there. "Sorry, got lost in thinking," said Lincoln with an apologetic chuckle. He found that he was much more scatterbrained lately. "Anyways, me and Lynn both chipped in to get you something together. And it's right here!"

He produced a wrapped-up gift, much like Leni's box, but this time the wrapping was more plain. It was a solid pinkish purple without any patterns on it, and Lily accepted it with a smile. Her fingernails dug into the wrapping and tore it off, and when she stuck her hand in she pulled out a hardcover book. A really thick hardcover book. If Lily had to guess, she would wager it was about a thousand pages. She flipped the book in her hand and read the title. Her eyes widened.

"Lincoln," she gasped, "how did you know?"

"You left your phone open one time, and I accidentally on-purpose looked at it and saw you were looking at this book on Amazon. So I pooled some of my Christmas money and Lynn did a few babysitting jobs, and that's how we got you this."

"I… I never thought I'd see a hardcover copy of _Battle of the Royal Oaks_," Lily said, still breathless.

_Battle of the Royal Oaks _was a book Lily had been scouring around for ever since she was eleven. It was a book that combined both her present interests in music with her childhood interests in elves and princesses and other magical stuff. It was pretty much a must-read for her, but it had constantly been denied to her because the hardcover copies were allusive as hell, and costly when you could even find them.

But now it was finally in her grubby little mitts.

"And I never thought I'd see Lynn buy a book," Lincoln snickered. "Don't tell her I said that, of course."

"Of course. Gosh, thank you two so much!" Lily exclaimed. She couldn't help herself; she opened the book to any random page and took in the refreshing new book smell. She couldn't wait to read it when she had the time.

Of course, it would be a while until she had the time. Her birthday was a crowded, busy day, but in a good way. Living in a huge family had a lot of downsides, but one major upside was that you got a _lot_ of presents. By the end of the day, Lily had also received a large piece of amber with a giant tarantula inside ("That's the largest tarantula in the world. Took a lot of persuading to get it," Lisa said proudly), a studded wristband ("Those are real diamonds. At least I think they are," Lola said), a guitar pick that doubled as a fart button ("I thought I had a pun prepared for this… one sec," Luan said as she tapped her head), and a mucky dog collar ("Maybe I forgot it was your birthday and grabbed something out of my closet, and maybe I didn't. What's it to you?" demanded Lana harshly). Lily thanked them all, and they all wished her a happy birthday.

As much as Lily loved the gifts she had received from her siblings, it wasn't really the presents that made her special day special. It was just the nice feeling of being with her family.

Oh, and the afternoon cake. So moist, so chocolaty~

As such, Lily didn't make too much of a fuss upon realizing that neither Lori nor Lucy had given her anything. It would've been fine if it was just Lori - Lily remembered pretty quickly that Lori wouldn't be in the giving mood with her - but she couldn't lie, she had been hoping to get something from Lucy. It didn't matter what, really. It could've been a sock for all she cared. She just wanted something to hold on to from Lucy. Like a piece of her essence, in a way.

_Maybe she's busy, _thought Lily.

As the day was winding down, Lily took an exhausted break from her siblings' attention. Those girls were really rambunctious, especially when it came to chocolate. First there was the fight over who would cut the cake, which ended with Luan holding a knife to Lucy's throat. Then there was Lana standing on her chair and demanding to know why Lola got a bigger piece, which ended in a fistfight between the two twins. And finally, there was Leni slipping on some stray frosting and accidentally slapping Lily in the face with a plateful of pastry. That was when Lily decided to step aside.

She was sitting on the couch, rubbing her cheek with a tissue, when Luna came up behind her. "Hey Lily," she said, and when the blonde turned to look at her, Luna shook the phone in her hand, "there's someone who wants to talk to you. Two someones, actually."

"Mom and Dad?"

Luna nodded, and Lily took the phone. "Hello?" she said into the device.

"_Hey, Lilster. Happy birthday!"_

She could hear her dad, but there was a grainy quality to his voice. It sounded pretty funny, so Lily giggled a little. "Thanks Dad. I'm happy that you've called me."

"_No problem, Lily. I'm really sorry your mother and I couldn't be there in person. Still pretty busy out here."_

"I understand. How's, uh, the house-hunting?"

"_It's been tough, honestly."_

A spark of hope flickered in her chest. "So there's a chance we'll stay here?"

"_Sorry, Lily, no can do. The new business is over here. You might get stay in Royal Woods for a few more weeks, if we can't find anything soon, but sooner or later you kids are moving out here with us."_

"Out here" was the East Coast. Things weren't looking so hot for Royal Woods at the moment. The economic strife of the Rust Belt had struck the small town hard. While crime was still, thankfully, low, the prosperity it had once had wasn't coming back. Not with the government letting all those jobs go overseas. Hell, President Trump had run on bringing jobs back to the Midwest, but it turned out he was more concerned with his retarded wall than with anyone's job security.

"I don't really want to move, though," Lily said, reminding the writer that this is a fanfiction and not a political pamphlet.

"_We have to eventually, honey. We have to. But hey, let's not talk about that. It's your special day. You're finally a full-fledged teen, kiddo. Ready to cause me some troubles like your sisters?"_

"I think you've had enough troubles for a lifetime."

"_Atta girl. You want to talk to your Mother?"_

The blonde nodded, until she remembered she was on the phone. "Yes, please."

There was the sound of shuffling as the phone swapped hands. A few taps on the bottom of the device, and then Lily heard her mother say _"H-Hello?" _Her voice was a bit more clear than her dad's, but that wasn't saying much. "Hi, Mom," Lily said.

"_Hi sweetie. Happy birthday. How old are you now, twelve? Fourteen?"_

"Right in the middle, Mom."

"_Dang it, I always mess up with the specifics. Still, there are some things I don't forget. Like how it was way early in the morning when you decided you finally wanted to be born. There I was pushing you out while the horizon pushed out the sun. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I pushed out some other thi-"_

"TMI, Mom! TMI!"

There was a little chuckle. _"Sorry. I can get a bit rambly. Guess it's my writer side showing off."_

_We've got two writers in the family. One of them rambles, and the other one is quiet, _Lily thought. She wished Lucy would open up to her more. She wondered what interesting things Lucy would have to say. "And there I go on and on about Lucy again," she said aloud.

"_What's that about Lucy?"_

"Nothing, Mom."

"_Well, Lily, I'd really like to talk some more, but the car just stopped. We're about to talk to some important investors. Sorry I couldn't get you a present, Lily. But just know that me and your father are proud of you, and we both love you very much."_

"I love both of you too."

"_Say hi to all your brother and sisters for me. Bye."_

"Bye," Lily said, pressing the red button on her phone. She stared down at the screen, and smiled to herself. As was said before, she didn't need gifts. Her parents calling her was all she needed from them. Now if only they would decide they didn't need to move…

"Lily, we're about to play Pin the Tail on the Jackass!"

"Donkey, Lana. It's Pin the Tail on the _Donkey_. Do you always have to be so crass?" Lola cried shrilly.

* * *

Lily was the last one in the bathroom to brush her teeth and use the toilet. As she wiped herself, her finger broke through the weak toilet paper and scraped against her girlhood. "Ah!" she cried out. It was sensitive... so it honestly felt a little nice. Lily had begun her period long ago, so sexuality wasn't something _new _to her. Still, it felt like lately her drives had been acting up. A wrong touch or look might make her feel weak in the knees and wet in the loins. It was especially strong when she thought about Lynn and Lincoln's relationship. As much as she hated to admit it, she did find the taboo nature of it… a little hot.

It was even stronger when she thought about Lucy, though.

_I'm not an incest bitch, _she said to herself mentally. _I'm not an incest bitch. I'm not an incest bitch._

The image of Lucy straddling her popped into her mind. She imagined the older girl putting her hand between her legs and rubbing her thumb on her skin. _"Mmmm, someone's a dirty little incest bitch," _she would say in her smooth voice.

"Okay, time to get my hands away from there." Lily came back to reality and disposed of the wipes.

As she tossed the dirty paper into the bin, she couldn't help but wonder what her relationship to Lucy was. Sisters, yes. Friends, maybe. Love interests? Lily couldn't really say. Maybe it wasn't really a crush that she had, but more an interest in the older girl. The girl with black hair seemed so aloof and mysterious. She kept to her own, and not just in the sense that she was distant with her siblings - she was distant from the whole world, trapped in her own imagination. What went on in Lucyland? Lily imagined the typical Gothic trappings: castles, vampires, werewolves, quasi-Catholic imagery, people that dressed and talked really formally… and an innocent, young, beautiful girl with fair hair and white clothes.

Lily didn't pretend to be an expert in Gothic literature, but she knew from Lucy's readings that there was always a young and fair girl in the midst of the horror. She was the symbol of innocence, slowly to be corrupted and spoiled. Could she be that? Could she be the sweet blonde to Lucy's tormented protagonist? Or was she the protagonist, stuck with the task of defrosting the mystifying and withdrawn Lucy?

Or was she just a girl in the bathroom thinking really weird thoughts?

Lily closed the lights and went to her room, baring some of her gifts in her hands. When she entered the room, Leni looked up from her phone. The older girl's eyes immediately fell on the petrified tarantula, and a terrified scream followed.

"Spider!" Leni cried.

"Actually, it's a tarantula. There's a difference," Lily said, channeling her inner Lisa.

"I don't care. Take it away, I don't want to see it!"

Lily huffed, but she wasn't annoyed with Leni. She was annoyed with herself. It was her fault for bringing a giant bug to her arachnophobic sister's room, after all. She dumped her other things on the ground, on top of a pile of band T-shirts, and took the rock with her into the hall.

"Now to find a place for you," Lily muttered to the syrup-colored stone. She scanned the other rooms, but she couldn't leave it with any of them. She needed to keep it somewhere safe from her sibling's grabby hands, and also safe from Leni's terrified eyes. Somewhere like…

"Mom and Dad's room!"

Lily whispered a prayer of thankfulness; thankful that Lori took the garage instead of that room when she came back.

She dashed down the stairs to her parents' room. Flicking on the light switch, she put the block of amber on the bed while she opened the closet door. There was, before her untainted eyes, a collection of her father's briefs and her mother's bras. "Didn't need to see that," commented Lily. She put on a pair of gloves and made the clothes into a little nest (grimacing all the while), and put down the amber carefully. Nestled in those clothes, it almost looked a lot like an egg. A giant dinosaur egg.

Fitting, seeing how ancient it was.

"I'll make sure not to say that in front of Lisa, though. I don't need a lecture about which animals did and didn't live alongside the dinos," Lily said with a smirk.

She closed the closet door and stepped out of her parent's room. That should've been the end of that. She would've gone back upstairs and climbed into bed were it not for the fact that she was intercepted by a certain fifteen year old goth.

"Hey Lily," said Lucy as Lily turned the corner out of her parent's room. Lily jumped up in fright, but didn't scream.

"Lucy!" she gasped, touching her heart. It was beating rapidly, though whether from the jump scare or from something else, she didn't know. Maybe it was a mix of both startle and _the other feeling_. "What are you doing here? We're all supposed to be sleeping right now."

"Sigh. I don't sleep at this early hour like the rest of you. I usually wait until the Witching Hour to end before I lay my weary head to rest."

"The Witching Hour?"

"Three. Three in the morning," Lucy said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be awake to see three and four in the morning. There was being a night owl, and then there was being an insomniac!

"Aha," Lily nodded. "But you haven't answered my question."

"What was the question again?"

"What are you doing here?" Lily repeated.

"Oh, right. I'm here to… apologize to you, Lily."

Lucy's eyes sank to the ground, as if she were ashamed of herself. Her right hand rushed to rub her left arm, and the striped cloth on it. For what Lucy was sorry for, Lily didn't know. The younger girl cocked her head and stared quizzically at her older sister. "Apologize to me? For what? You haven't done anything to… hurt me."

_Hurt. Interesting choice of words there, Lily._

"It's not about what I _did_. It's about what I _didn't_ do. Siiiiigh." Lucy drew out her spoken sigh. Then she raised her gaze to look at Lily's face, and the music enthusiast knew that behind those dark bangs, Lucy's eyes were meeting her own.

"You see," Lucy started, "I had a very special gift in my for you today. But for circumstances that are far beyond my control, I wasn't able to procure it for you. If I hadn't left it with a friend… but beyond that, due to my shame, I had a hard time being around you today. You might've noticed that I spoke very little to you today. I'll make no excuses. I'm sorry."

"It's… it's fine, Lucy. It's not as big of a deal as you think it is," Lily said, genuinely meaning that.

"It is. I saw your wandering eye today, staring at me with confusion and distraught, and I knew I had hurt you."

Lily blushed. _Lucy noticed me looking at her? Dang it!_

"It's typical. Just typical. I try and try to be a good sister, but every time something gets in the way. I can't be Lucy the nice or Lucy the sweet… all I can be is Lucy the fucking creepy goth that's all by herself and mumbles about tarot cards. A _stereotype,_" Lucy spat the last word.

"In this house, that's more common than you'd think," Lily observed, not really helping.

The raven haired teen sighed and slumped on the couch. "Anyways, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I hope you had a good day. I don't want you to spend the last hours of it feeling sorry for me."

"Lucy, seriously, it's not that big of a deal," Lily said, an edge in her throat. Her plans to go to bed early evaporated, and Lily jumped onto the couch right besides the one Lucy was sitting on. "Lucy, I don't give a shit if you got me a present or not, pardon my French. I'm just glad you were there with us, eating cake and hopefully having some fun. And when I was looking at you… um, I had my reasons. But not because I was disappointed with you or anything."

"You mean that?"

Lily nodded, and Lucy did something Lily almost never saw her do.

She smiled.

It was a thin smile, and it vanished just as quickly as it appeared. But even so, the smile immediately enchanted Lily. "Hey Lucy," she said, "if you really want to get me a gift, then there's one you can get for me now."

"What?"

"Can we talk?"

Lucy rubbed her chin. "That's not really a gift. That's more like a request."

"Make it a request, then. As long as you grant it, then it can be a request. Make me the Aladdin to your genie, and grant my wish!" demanded Lily with a confident, childish grin.

"Aladdin didn't only get one wish, though. In the original tale, he stumbled upon a magic lamp and magic ring, and from there he was granted five wishes by two mystical genies in exchange for their freedom," Lucy said. She did like the poetic nature of the metaphor, though, so she ended up relenting. "Alright. I'll grant you five birthday wishes, in exchange for breaking my debt of guilt."

"Deal. Now let's talk."

"About what?"

_About what makes you tick, _Lily said in her mind. _About what it is that attracts me to you. There has to be something. It can't be… romantic love… _

Of course, she said that to herself, but in reality she had no idea what she wanted to say. In times like these, the brain reverts to what it knows best, and thanks to the persistence of Luna Loud, what Lily knew best was _music_.

"So when it comes to music… what's your poison?"

Lucy took a moment to think. She listened to music, of course, but she wasn't really _into _music. Especially not to the degree of Luna and Lily. She opted to answer with her favorite bands. "Nine Inch Nails and My Chemical Romance," Lucy answered, before something else popped into her mind. "Oh yeah, and a few weeks ago I liked Ozzy Osbourne. I even got a pair of circular shades like that."

"I've listened to those guys. I know for a fact I have MCR's _Welcome to the Black Parade _on my iPod."

Lucy frowned. "Sigh. Everyone listens to that one. They have other songs, you know."

Was she offended? Lily hoped not.

"What else do you do? I think you write, right?" asked Lily.

Lucy nodded, and Lily noticed that she seemed to crackle with enthusiasm. "I do. Poetry and short stories. Hopefully a novel one day, when I can find the right muse."

"Short stories? What kind?"

"Oh, uh, n-nothing special," Lucy stammered. Lily's eyes narrowed, and then they lit up with a monkey-like glee.

"Do you… Lucy, do you write sex stories?"

"I'd rather talk about my poetry," Lucy grumbled, crossing her arms as a red blush tore through the paleness of her cheeks. Lily laughed lightly, and agreed to drop the subject so that her sister didn't expire from embarrassment.

"So what's your poetry about?"

"Death. Despair. Broken hearts. Crows. The graveyard I visit. Other fun subjects," Lucy listed. A thought occurred to her just then. "I used to go to Lincoln with my poems. He'd help me come up with rhymes and other things. He was always able to help. But then..."

"But then?"

"… I lost him to Lynn."

"Oh," Lily said simply, lying back.

"She was always following him around before. Like a little puppy dog. It was actually cute," Lucy said with a fond smile. She didn't smile when she then said, "But when the two of them started… sleeping in the same room, I couldn't help but feel pushed out. Maybe a little jealous. Sigh. I miss being able to go to Lincoln and ask him for a rhyme. Now he's busy with her always instead."

Lily swallowed. "Lucy, do you mind if I ask… how do you feel about _them_?"

She wasn't asking how Lucy felt about Lincoln or Lynn. She was asking how she felt about them being partners. In a way, she was breaking one of the unspoken rules of the Loud house; don't talk about Lincoln and Lynn's relationship. You can know it exists, but please don't talk about it to anyone else. It's _awkward._

Luckily, Lucy was no prude. She didn't shiver or yell out with disgust. She just answered:

"I'm happy they found love. I just wish it didn't leave me so alone. Lincoln doesn't help me with my poems and Lynn isn't my roommate… sucks," she admitted with a shrug.

Lily put a hand on her sister's arm. "You know I listen to a lot of music," said Lily, "and a lot of lyrics have been beaten into my head. So if you want rhymes, well, you can always come talk to me. Sometimes I help Luna when she writes her songs, so you know I'm good."

"The only good part about her songs," Lucy snorted. Lily slapped her playfully to defend her sister's honor, but she couldn't stop herself from laughing. _Sorry, Luna. To be fair, you are way better at the electric guitar than the acoustic. Maybe stop playing the acoustic one so much._

The mean and cruel laugh was replaced by a more kind tone in her voice. "But thanks, Lily. I… I'll definitely keep that in mind."

Lucy touched her sister's hand, still planted on her arm, and the two looked at each other with soft gazes. Lucy wet her lips as she looked at Lily's eyes. They were a piercing blue, almost like sapphires. "You have really pretty eyes," she said. She then blushed, hearing the words coming from her mouth. "Shit, I meant to only think that. Sigh."

"It's okay, Lucy," Lily smiled, blushing herself. But Lucy's talk of eyes brought up another subject that Lily had been mulling over when it came to her goth sister. She took a cool breath, hoping Lucy wouldn't take what she was about to say the wrong way. "Um, Lucy. There's… there's something about you I've been wanting to know. Why do you cover your eyes?"

"Because they scare people," Lucy answered. There was no hesitation, and that made it all the more uncomfortable for Lily. She could sense that she had tapped on a sore topic.

"What do you mean?" she asked, braving on. If she had to, she would've invoked the five requests Lucy promised to grant her. Dick move, she knew, but her curiosity had to be sated.

Lucy rocked her head back and forth, curling her lip. It seemed to Lily that she was debating whether to talk about it or not. Finally, she stopped, and let out a sigh. She didn't just say the word. She breathed her negative emotions out of her mouth. "When I was eight years old, I fell in love for the first time. One of Lincoln's friends came over, and he brought his younger brother with him. The boy was my age. His name was Rocky and... sigh, he was so perfect."

For some reason, Lily felt a painful squeeze in her chest when she learned that Lucy liked boys. Not girls. Not girls… like her.

"It took me a while to muster up my courage. I told no one but Lincoln, and he told me to be myself. So I did. I went up to him and try to talk to him. 'Hi Rocky,' I said. And do you know what happened next?"

Lily opened her mouth to answer, but Lucy said, in a sad tone, "He ran. One look at the creepy pale girl with skulls and fake blood and he ran to his brother. And I was so crushed. All because I met his eyes."

She reached up to touch the dark bangs that hung in front of her face like the vines that hung from the Floating Gardens of Babylon. "So I grew out my hair. To hide them from the world. Mom and Dad were really happy with that. They also told me the way I stared was creepy. More of a reason to keep them this way."

She swallowed when she finished her story, and silence hung over the room. "It's getting late," said Lucy suddenly, standing up to leave. "We should go to bed now. Goodnight, Lily, and happy birthday."

Lucy had just scarcely gotten to the staircase when she heard Lily say "Lucy," in the softest, most sympathetic voice she had ever heard. So, with one foot on the first step, she turned around.

"Can you… can you show me?" asked Lily.

"Show you… my eyes?"

Lily nodded. Lucy would've refused, but she was bound to serve Lily five requests. This one was the second. "O-Of course," Lucy said, losing her cool attitude. She tried not to show it, but being honest, she was quaking with fear. This wasn't just pulling some hair to the side. This was opening up to someone. Someone new. Giving them a chance to hurt her, whether by accident or on purpose. Like _he _did.

But then again... this was Lily. Lucy could feel a kinship with her. She could trust her. She could lose herself in Lily's beautiful eyes. She should at least return to her the favor.

Four slender fingers reached up to Lucy's face, but they were not her own. Lily's hand brushed aside the bangs, and she gasped when she saw Lucy's eyes. They weren't brown or blue like everyone else in the family. Her eyes were gray, like a cool beach in the early hours of the morning.

"Why would you hide these?" asked Lily. "They're… you're beautiful."

"Really?" asked the shy older sister.

"You are."

Those words created a reaction inside Lucy she hadn't felt for a long time. It was something she hadn't felt since Rocky, and maybe a little around Lincoln…

Her heart thumped. It thumped hard.

Lucy's tongue poked out of her mouth, and she licked her lips, leaving them glistening. Lily swallowed. The two sisters were so close that Lily could feel Lucy's breaths blow across her face like gentle wind blows across a wide field. "Midnight's coming soon Luce," said Lily. "I want to use all my wishes now, if I can."

Lucy nodded. Lily was hesitant for a moment, until she said, "K-Kiss me."

Lucy puckered her lips and pecked the younger girl on her burning cheek. Lily frowned, though. That wasn't what she wanted. "No, Lucy. Kiss me like… like this..."

She lifted herself up on her tiptoes, and without a second of hesitation, pressed her lips against Lucy's soft mouth. Their lips fused together, and Lucy's gray eyes widened with shock as the blonde surprised her with her kiss. She… she didn't push her off, though. Not even when she felt Lily's tongue explore her mouth, or when her younger sister made moans of hunger.

No, then was when she wrapped her fingers around Lily's head and brought her in closer.

Black hair spilled to touch the golden hairs of Lily's head as Lucy leaned downwards, closing her eyes and enjoying the sensation of her sister on her lips. The thumping in her chest increased, and made her feel so… _good. _She wanted more of this feeling. She wanted more of this taste. She wanted more of… her.

Their lips broke apart, and Lily's final request was on them.

"_T-Touch me. Please, Lucy, touch me._"

The older sister was hesitant. At least her mind was. Her body acted on its own accord, and she heard the words "As you wish," said in her voice. Her hand trailed down Lily's slender body, and found itself at the inner thighs of the blonde rocker. She cupped Lily in her hand, and the feeling of wetness pressed against her palm.

Lily moaned, and that moan of her's brought Lucy back to reality. She snapped out of her hazy dream-like state and withdrew her hand, eyes wide and confused.

"Lucy, I..."

Lily wasn't allowed to finish her sentence. The goth went back to the stairs to climb them, and this time, she didn't stop for anything.

Lily slumped down in the couch, and lay with her arms splayed and her butt sinking into the seat. Her face was still red, her heart still racing, her knees still weak, and her core still… dripping. Lucy's touch against them had both excited and extinguished a fire within her. A fire, Lily knew, she shouldn't have kindled.

"Oh, Lucy… I'm so, so sorry."


	3. Chapter 3

**I've been deliberately holding back some of the darker/lewder stuff to get at least two "nice" chapters. But starting with this one, I won't. Be warned, from this point forward, there will be graphic sex, graphic-er scenes of violence, and major character deaths. The latter two will come later. The first one starts now~**

* * *

The frame of the bed banged softly against the wall, and the springs creaked underneath Lynn and Lincoln as they held their third congress for the night. And by congress, I mean sex.

She was planted on her arms and knees, butt thrust into the air, and moaning as Lincoln took her from behind. The boy's breaths were audibly ragged, and she could hear him softly whispering her name under his breath. _"Lynn… Lynn… Lynn..." _He repeated her name like it was a religious chant. His cock, already slick with her saliva and his pre, slid in and out of her hole rapidly. She felt his length scratch at her insides, and she let out a throaty hum. Her hands reached down to touch her vagina, and she rubbed herself while her brother savagely rammed her forbidden hole.

"Come on, little Linky, you're fucking me like a girl. I've had better cock from Margo."

"Oh, you have, have you?" huffed Lincoln. The idea that he wasn't pleasuring him got him riled up every single time. Lynn grinned with satisfied accomplishment as her brother reached for her ponytail, holding it in his hand, and began slamming her entire body against his dick.

"Now _that's_ what I'm talking about!"

Rough sex was the best.

Her fingers rubbed her swollen clit as Lincoln kept up his assault on her behind. Her walls were gripping him tightly, refusing to let go of the brother they so desperately loved. His entire dick felt out of her wetness, and he let out a rather dopey "Oops." Laughing lightly, Lynn reached over with her other hand to spread her puckered anus up for him.

"It just hit me… doesn't that need to be cleaned first?" he asked.

"You were already in there. Consider that cleaning it~"

He grinned. Fingers firmly wrapped around his cock, he guided it to her dark hole and stuffed it back in. They both groaned as his shaft filled her up again, and he resumed his attack. Her head bowed as Lincoln stuffed himself especially deep, and her teeth grit. Her butt rippled every time it slapped into Lincoln's groin. There was an odd sound with every single thrust too. It was a wet sound, like someone stepping into a puddle. Or like Lincoln was plumbing Lynn's insides with his hard cock.

Finally, he felt his third orgasm of the night approaching. "L-Lynn," he moaned, so that she knew his load was coming. She scarcely had a moment to prepare herself when she felt the first spurt of hot seed flow into her insides. She cried out, hot tears in her eyes, and Lincoln groaned as his entire armada loosed itself into her cavity.

He fell back against the bed, white milk still flowing out of his erection. As he begun to shrink, he looked over to her as she looked back at him with a snarl. "Seriously? This is why I don't like doing anal with you. You always have to start shooting inside."

"Sorry Lynn." He shrugged.

She cleaned herself swiftly with a wet wipe, then softened her expression as she lay herself back. A crimson blush swept across her face, and her freckled cheeks glowed. Her smile was soft when she poked her brother with her curled toes. "Bro, I still haven't finished yet. You know what that means~"

A smirk curled onto his lips, and he pulled Lynn by her legs to the edge of the bed. He opened up her legs, and planted his head right between them. He stared at her quivering pussy, just waiting for someone to bring it to release. It was only fair, after all. When they started, she had gotten on her knees and put him in her mouth. Time for him to do the same.

The heated smell hit his nostrils, and his nose crinkled. Nevertheless, his tongue darted out of his mouth and took a long lick of Lynn. "L-Like that," he heard her say. He reached up to grab her, keeping her in place, before he began licking at her cunt. Her juices dripped down his mouth and through his throat, invigorating him more than any coffee could ever hope to. Her blush deepened, and Lincoln kept up his work of lapping at Lynn's folds and gently pinching her clit.

She dug the back of her head into the bed as she came. Her pussy doused Lincoln's face and bare chest with her orgasm. Knowing that the two of them were finally satisfied, Lincoln jumped into bed right with Lynn. "You smell really bad," Lynn giggled, putting her hand on her brother's cheek.

"Thought you'd be used to the smell of sweat and… yourself."

"I like your smell more than mine," she said, before pausing. Her face fell for a moment, and Lincoln's eyes flashed with concern.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"What? No, nothing's wrong. It's just… nah, it's stupid, you don't wanna hear about it."

"I do, though. I don't want there to be something bothering you. I love you," he said. He kissed her burning cheek, which would've been more sweet had her cummy fluids not coated them.

"That's the thing. I lo-_like _you too, Lincoln, but… Lincoln, do you ever think about the old days? The days before you turned thirteen? The days when we were Lynn and Lincoln, normal brother and sister, and not Lynn and Lincoln, Loudcest extraordinaires?"

He squinted. "What's brought this on?"

"Lily's birthday. Reminded me of when we were that age," Lynn sighed.

Lincoln sighed, but nodded. He understood where she was coming from. Two days ago, he and Lynn had been sitting on the couch together, blanket wrapped around their feet, and they watched a movie together. Lincoln had looked over at her, and when she caught him looking, they both blushed. As cute as it was, he did think to himself, _Why doesn't this feel right anymore? It doesn't feel like I'm with my older sister. It feels like I'm with a girlfriend._

"Lynn, listen… we pretty gave up any chance of us being normal siblings long ago," he said, "but don't think of it like losing something. We _traded_ something. We _sacrificed_ something. By throwing away our family bond and taking on a romantic one… Lynn, you're the girl I've loved most. More than anyone else. You're the most beautiful girl I know. More than Ronnie Anne or Girl Jordan or Stella or Paige. I wish you weren't related to me like them, but at the same time... I guess I'm glad you are related to me."

"How come?"

He smiled softly, taking her chin in his hand. "Because if we weren't related, we might've never met. And that, honestly, scares me far more than being with my sister. I love you, as a brother and as a lover."

Lynn's frown slowly turned into a touched smile. She allowed herself one last moment of emotional vulnerability as they kissed, her lips melting into his, so that neither knew where one started and the other ended. A thin line of saliva connected them well after the kiss was broken, and Lynn took her cue to swallow it like a champ. "Thanks, Stinkoln."

He nodded, and a thought occurred to him. "You know, now that you mentioned Lily… have you noticed anything going on her with lately?"

"Uh, yeah. Her birthday."

Lincoln shook his head and waved his arms. "No, not that. I mean with her Lucy. Tell me if I'm imagining things, but hasn't Lily been following Lucy around for a while? Always trying to sit close to her, always blushing when she looks at her… do you think that maybe she's in love?"

"Ooh, I smell a double date in the future," Lynn said mockingly.

"Lynn, I'm being serious here."

"If you are, well… I mean, they are both around the ages when we first got together. Lucy's fifteen, Lily's thirteen," Lynn paused, running her hand on her chin and looking up as she thought. "It's possible."

"That's kinda cute," Lincoln said. What he didn't say was that it was also kinda hot. His relationship with Lynn had addled his brain, so he had no problem admitting that he found Lucy attractive. Her making out with another girl… umf. Still, that "other girl" was his younger sister, so he felt a twinge of guilt.

_Man, I'm messed up._

"I hope they do get together," Lynn continued. "Would be nice to have another couple around the house. Make us feel less weird. And it would help Lucy. She's been so moody lately."

"She's always moody. That's her thing."

"Different than usual. Like she feels... I don't know, heartbroken or something. Lily's a little ball of sunshine, she can make Lucy feel loved again. The only problem would be… Lori."

Lori. The only member of the Loud clan that didn't passively ignore the forbidden relationship that had sprouted in their household - she was openly aggressive and disapproving. Lincoln supposed he couldn't blame her, for what older sibling wanted to see their younger ones dating? Still, the way she constantly yelled at them, fought with them, threatened to get them in trouble with the police… like, damn lady, get off our backs!

It would be worse for Lily and Lucy, though. Lincoln and Lynn had the advantage that Lori didn't dislike them beforehand. The same could not be said for those two.

_Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that woman's mind, _thought Lincoln.

* * *

Nightmares and delusions haunted Lori's dreams as she struggled fitfully to get some sleep. She had tried everything: a warm glass of milk, dripping water in her hair, even going so far as to put her pillow on her face to try to suffocate herself. She didn't want to die; she just wanted cut off enough oxygen to force herself to pass out.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get any rest. The most she could manage was moments of half-consciousness where night terrors danced before her eyes.

The nightmares she saw seemed different from one to another, but they all seemed to come back to the same thing.

"But I… I do love you, Bobby. I do," Lori murmured in the voice of a fearful little girl, before her eyes shot open and she awoke with a wretched gasp. She panted as she sat up and hugged herself. The blue tank-top was tight on her chest as her lungs expanded and deflated over and over again. She felt like coughing and crying and throwing up and doing a thousand other things that weren't sleep. Her eyes felt swollen, and she was sure if she checked in a mirror, they would be bloodshot red.

Yep, she just checked. Red.

She then checked the time. It was just two minutes before five. "Guess I'm not getting any sleep now," Lori sighed, sitting up and casting the blanket off her body. She had worn white panties to bed, and when Lori looked down, she found they were wet. When she reached down to pull off them, she noticed that there were still thin lines of shimmering Lorijuice clinging to both the cotton underwear and her body. She sighed again, knowing exactly why they were there.

"Bobby..."

She reached her phone and began to scroll through the album of pictures of her and her precious bae. A picture of them at the beach, with her in a revealing bikini and him in masculine trunks. Her finger swiped the screen, and a picture of her and Bobby outside of a movie theater appeared. She could see herself awkwardly holding the selfie stick while Bobby waited with cool patience. Her finger had slipped and that was the picture they ended up with. Haha, silly her.

With every picture, Lori felt her eyes get wetter. She sniffled as she felt a wave of emotion pour into her chest as she thought of Bobby. Love, longing, compassion…

...and hatred.

Pure, white hot hatred.

Not for Bobby. She could never allow herself to hate him, no matter what he did to her. No, her hate was reserved for another.

Lily. The little slut that had destroyed her life with Bobby.

Lori bore her teeth with animalistic anger, and her eyes were red now not with fatigue, but with the crackling energy of her hatred. Every thing had been so perfect before that dumb cunt ruined it. Lori had finally moved in with Bobby in the city, ready to start a new life in their new, secluded apartment… and then little Miss Torn-Jeans came by for a visit and stole him away. She would never see him again, because of her!

Didn't she know how much she _needed _Bobby? Didn't she know how much she _loved _her Boo Boo Bear? Didn't she know how ready Lori was to cast everything aside in order to be the perfect woman for Bobby? Didn't she know how ready Lori was to become the perfect _wife _for him? She would be whatever he wanted her to be. She didn't care, it was what she wanted. But it wasn't what Lily wanted, who took Bobby away from her and forced her parents to bring her back home. To add insult to fucking injury, the small cunt had taken her room. She couldn't sleep in that room anymore. It was contagious with Lily.

"I hate this garage. I hate Mom and Dad. I hate Lily. I fucking hate Lily. I HATE YOU, LILY!" Lori screamed, smashing her curled fist into the wall.

It hit a sharp nail, and the young woman howled with pain as she felt the metal sink into her flesh. Blood spurted from her wound, and Lori snarled as she cradled her bleeding fist in her hand.

"Look what you made me do, Lily!" she howled with absolute mania.

She calmed for a moment, collecting her thoughts. There was plenty of time to hate Lily later. Now was time to take care of herself. Lori walked over to her desk, and reached down to grab her first aid kit. She pulled out her disinfectant and a long strip of bandages. Biting down on her lip, she sprayed her wound. It stung, but that just meant it was working.

"Now for the bandages," she said. But when she looked back at where she had put her bandages, they were nowhere to be found. Her head tossed from side to side as she searched for them, until she looked down at her hand.

She gasped loudly.

Her hand… it was bandaged. Someone had bandaged it up for her. But… but who?

"L-Lisa?" Lori called out, looking behind her. "Are… are you in here?"

"_No. Lisa didn't do this. I did, babe."_

Her eyes widened like saucers when she heard the voice. Could it be? Her shock only increased when she felt a soft hand grabbed her injured one, and the familiar smell of cologne and spices filled her nostrils. She slowly moved her head to confirm it. _Oh, please let it be. I know it can't, but please let it be…_

Someone heard her prayers, for there he was.

Bobby Santiago, smiling his familiar charming smile.

But something seemed different. He was clearer now. More transparent. Like an astral projection... or a ghost...

"B-Bobby? But how?"

"_Come on, babe. You know my love is too strong for anything to keep me from you," _the apparitional Bobby said. He placed his hand on her face, and she felt his warmth on her cheek.

"I can't believe it. I can't believe you're here," she whispered, tears spilling from her eyes.

Here Bobby gave her a saddened look. He frowned and shook his head, and withdrew his hand from her face. _"I… no, Lori. I'm not really here."_

Lori looked confused. "But here you are! It's literally you!" she insisted.

"_I'm not really here, though, Lori. Believe me. I can't be with you right now. I can't be with you in any real way," _he said sadly. His voice had a hint of a warble in it.

"Why… why not?"

He looked into her eyes, and they were sad and forlorn.

"_Because of Lily."_

Demonic hatred returned to Lori's eyes. Her face was twisted by the emotion, and she seemed less like a human and more like a hate-filled monster. "Lily..." she said the name of her hated sister. Then her face relaxed, and her eyes went back to being wide and doting on her precious boyfriend. "Oh, but please stay, Boo Boo Bear. I promise Lily won't be able to hurt you. Not this time. I promise. Please, Bobby, please."

"_There is one way. A way that would stain your soul, but bring us together."_

"Anything."

The ghostly Bobby wet his lips. _"She has to die, babe. Lily has to die."_

There was a moment of silent shock. Lori, though she was already sitting, fell back. "Wh-What do you mean?" she asked. Her voice rang with fear and surprise, but underneath her hushed shock, there was also an element of… _eagerness _in her question.

"_You know what I mean, Lori. She and I can't both be in your life. One of us has to go. I know it's rough to ask you to kill your sister, but…" _he cast her the pleading look a whimpering puppy gives its master when it's begging for food, _"… I know you'll do it if you love me."_

He knew her well. Lori said once that she was willing to do anything for Bobby. Absolutely anything. She wanted to be his perfect girl.

And if it meant killing Lily in the process… well, that was just an added bonus, wasn't it?

Lori's lips flashed a predatory smirk. She assured him that she did love him, and she assured him that she would do the deed. He smiled, and then faded away before her eyes. Lori was left alone again, and it pained her. But it was different now. Better. When she was alone first, she felt cold and afraid. But now the room was warm as part of the grace of Bobby's presence. She looked to her hand, and imagined a knife in it. She then imagined the bloody knife dropping to the ground as Bobby came to embrace her. Finally, finally, they could be together.

And that made her _wet._

She had a few hours. She reached for her phone and found one of the sweet pictures of her with Bobby.

Then she set the phone to vibrate, and placed it between her legs…

"Oh, Bobby~"

* * *

The next morning, Lucy rose out of her coffin, yawning and sighing as the daylight greeted her. Her pet bat Fangs perched on her finger, and she hummed a soft song for her bat. She then smiled, thinking she looked like the Gothic parody of a Disney Princess.

Then she thought about Lily, and her smile evaporated.

Fangs, sensing something was wrong with his mistress, flew to her shoulder and rubbed his face on her cheek, making soft sounds of comfort. She patted her flying rodent. "Thanks Fangs," she said, "but even you can't lift my already downtrodden spirits. Sigh."

It had been so weird and so sudden, how Lily went from a concerned and comforting sister to a steamy woman, puffing her requests to be kissed and touched and presumably wanting more. Actually, it wasn't fair to place all the blame on Lily. Some of it had to go to her. Actually, most of it had to go to her. She was older. She was wiser. She was more familiar with carnal matters.

"Sigh. But then why did I welcome her touch like I did?"

She couldn't forget the feeling. Her heart was beating like the drums of thunder. Her skin was flushed with waves of stimulation. The kiss with Lily was, if she was being honest with herself, one of the most beautiful moments of her life.

But she was also scared.

Funny that the creepy girl that wrote poems about people being eaten by sharks could be scared of someone like Lily. Lucy always thought of Lily like a lamb. She was sweet, cute, and the air around her was pure and innocent. But now Lucy wondered if Lily was nothing more than a predatory wolf in sheep's clothing.

"No, she can't be," said Lucy. "Not Lily. She's too… good..."

She thought about Lily with her innocent eyes and her shy posture. There was no way someone like that could be a wolf.

Then she thought about her pink lips, glistening with the urge to kiss, and Lucy didn't know what to believe anymore.

Sigh.

Regardless, she was the older sister here. Even if it was only by a matter of two years. Two years was a big difference for teenagers. She needed to be the one to sort this all out. She would talk to Lily, and see what the deal with her was. If Lily just got caught up in the heat of the moment, then fine. All would be well.

"But if she tells me she has deeper feelings for me… what then?"

Lucy knew the right thing to do. _I'm flattered, Lily. But what you want can never happen between us. We're sisters, and sisters don't do things like that._

But there was a not-so-small part of her that didn't want to do that at all.

Her thoughts turned to Lincoln and Lynn. There were two siblings that she knew were dating, and that she also knew as people beyond their connection. Could something like that happen between her and Lily? Could they be another OTP of the Loud House, hiding and waiting to make their appearance? Lucy couldn't lie to herself - this wasn't the first time she had felt feelings deeper than sisterly love for another member of her family. She had felt a similar way with L-L-Lincoln. She loved her sweet younger brother. Maybe not as intensely as she loved Lily now, or even Rocky, but there was still the undercurrent of something loving in every conversation they had.

That was until Lynn got him for herself.

"Am I… am I doomed to something like this? Are we all?"

It was like a Lovecraft story. The sins of one or two family members would bleed into all members. But in a sense, it was also a story of hope. Did Lynn and Lincoln open up something for her to have with Lily?

There was no one who made Lucy feel as Lily did last night. Why would it be wrong for her to have this?

Of course, Lucy then realized that she still hadn't talked to Lily, and felt quite embarrassed for having this long monologue. She also felt embarrassed when she realized she still hadn't put on her clothes.

She tossed on her regular: black dress with the zebra sleeves, then pulled on her striped black-and-white stockings over her pale legs. Her toes wiggled inside to guarantee her comfort, and Lucy went to the mirror to check her hair. Her style hadn't changed much since she was a little girl, but one thing that she did wonder if she needed to change was her bangs. Her hand brushed the black hairs in front of her face, and revealed her eyes for a moment. She always thought of her eyes as creepy and disturbing - grotesque things that needed to be hidden from the world.

But Lily didn't agree. She said her grayish eyes were beautiful.

Another pleasant thump in her chest.

"Today is going to be a fun day for everyone," Lucy said sardonically.

* * *

**I know I said this story was based on a request, but there is another source that birthed this story. James and Hero (bless them) were being assholes about the yandere Lori in **_**Bound By Secrets. **_**I swore then I would write a darker and more terrible yandere Lori. Let's see how you two like this one :middle_finger:**


	4. Chapter 4

Lucy stared into the cupboard in the kitchen. Despite the heavy party yesterday, Lucy had barely eaten any of the cake or pizza, which was probably why it felt like there was a monster clawing at her stomach. Her tummy rumbled, begging her to feed it some of the food that was _right there_. But Lucy didn't make any move to grab the only cereal box in the cupboard. It was Honey Nut Cheerios, and Lucy didn't like Honey Nut Cheerios. They were like regular Cheerios but… cheerier.

She blinked and stared, but no matter what, that gleeful smiling bee still stared into her soul. She gave up and grabbed it, only to realize that it was empty.

Sigh.

Lisa turned around in her chair at the sound of an empty cereal box being shaken, and her face darkened. "Which of our siblings is doltish or cruel enough to put an empty cereal box back instead of throwing it out like a considerate and civilized human being?"

Lucy shrugged. "Probably Luan. She'd get a laugh out of this 'prank'."

Lucy made air quotes when she said the last word, and Lisa frowned.

"Someone needs to go get some more cereal. And more food in general. Our supplies have been running low."

"I'll do it later when I go out," said Lori as she stepped into the kitchen through the back door. Lisa and Lucy looked at their eldest sister, and the first thing they saw was her hand.

"Lori! What happened to you?!" cried Lisa.

Her right hand was visibly wounded, and caked with dried blood. The bandages that were wrapped around it were a sickly shade of red and brown. At least, they were in the places that were wrapped properly. Her severed flesh showed in several places, exposed to the filthy air, and the bandages fell off her hand on either sides. It looked like she had barely wrapped her wounded hand up at all!

Lori looked down at her hand with an apathetic gaze. "Oh, this? I hurt myself in the garage."

"Lori, I need to look at that quick," insisted Lisa, leaping from her chair and rushing to the blonde's side. "This bandaging won't hold..."

Lisa stopped and jumped back with fright when she saw Lori's eyes. They were angry and protective, as if she would tear the eight year old to shreds if she dared touch it. And rightfully so. How _DARE_ she criticize Bobby's handiwork? He wrapped up her hand after she had beaten it with righteous fury, and it was perfect the way it was. She didn't need some know-it-all little bitch touching it with her scat-covered hands.

Then Lori's eyes softened, and she smiled sweetly at the little mousy-haired girl - an incredibly sickly sweet smile. "Thank you, Lisa," Lori said with an appreciative nod, "but I think I can take care of my appendages myself, thank you very much. I am the oldest, after all."

The way she said that made Lucy uncomfortable.

Not a lot of things made Lucy Loud uncomfortable.

Lisa slunk back to her chair, and grasped her glass of milk with frightened hands. Thankfully, Lynn and Lincoln stepped into the kitchen, so Lori's attention was diverted towards them. She scowled when she saw the jock and geek holding each other's hands. "Do you have to do that?" she spat, the false nicety of her tone gone.

"Do what?" asked Lynn defensively.

"Hold hands. You're not little girls about to cross the street. Although… I guess you are both little girls in a sense," she sneered. Lynn's height and Lincoln's masculinity were always easy targets for her. The way the both of them bristled with anger proved it. Lori laughed cruelly as she grabbed an apple off the counter and walked off with it. Lisa gagged a little when she saw that Lori had taken the apple in her bloody hand, and could imagine the microbes and diseases spreading on its red skin.

"What's her problem?" Lynn growled. "Is she getting a visit from Aunt Flo? Or is she getting a visit from Aunt Bitch?"

Lincoln put his hand on her shoulder, and she calmed down slightly. But only slightly.

And as if things couldn't get tense enough, Lily appeared. "Good morning everyone," she said with a bright smile, bringing a drop of cute sunlight back into the kitchen... until she looked over at Lucy, and she felt herself cringe. "Oh," she simply said, her hand rushing to touch her face as it started to turn red.

No one saw Lincoln's eyebrow raise when he noticed her blush. _Interesting, _he thought.

He clapped his hands together, and put on a big smile. "Alright, muchachas, who wants a round of eggs done in Lincoln Loud style?"

"What's the Lincoln Loud style?" asked Lisa.

He winked at her. "Just a little bit of salt."

That was patently untrue. Lucy's plate of burnt eggs contained no salt at all, and Lily's plate contained so much salt that Lisa was prepared to register it with the UN as either a health hazard and a chemical weapon. She bit into her breakfast, and she feel the salt crystals crunch in her teeth. Still, when she saw her brother looking at her, his eyes wide with the anticipation all cooks have when they see someone eating their food, she forced a smile and bared her sodium-poisoned teeth. "Yummers."

"G-Good Morning," Luna said, stumbling into the kitchen and yawning. She sniffed the air, and her face scrunched up. "What smells like way too much salt?"

Lincoln's spirits fell, and Lynn chuckled. "Good morning, sis," said the girl in red.

"Morning Paper Clips," Lily greeted, trying out her new nickname. Luna laughed and ruffled the girl's blonde hair.

"Not bad, Lils. Gotta come up with something good for you."

"How about… never mind..." Lucy muttered. She could feel her siblings' eyes on her, like they were trying out their X-Ray vision to peer into her head. Much like Lily a few moments before, her cheeks burst with rose red. Lincoln's raised eyebrow was joined by the fidgeting start of a smirk.

Lily couldn't finish her food. She pushed her plate and said, "I'm full. Too much cake from last night." She added the second part to spare Lincoln's feelings. And just as she got up, the worst possible thing happened…

Lucy stood up with her.

"I'm done too."

Lily looked down at Lucy's plate and saw that her food was just barely picked at. But Lily knew why her older sister decided to get up with her, and she bit down on the nail of her thumb. _Shit! _Lily thought. _Is she going to talk to me about it? Who am I kidding, of course she wants to talk about last night. Dang it, dang it, dang it… what do I say to her?_

"Oh cool," Lily said, trying to play it cool. "Can you come with me, Lucy? I want to talk to you about something."

_Power play. Now I'm the one who starts the conversation. Perfect! Now what?_

Lily realized she didn't think that far ahead.

Lola and Lana raced past each other and flung themselves into the kitchen as Lily and Lucy left. While the tomboy and the pageant powerhouse started arguing over who got there first - going as far tugging on each other's pigtails and bangs - Lincoln was nudging Lynn, pointing at the goth and rocker as they left. Lynn's brow furrowed. She didn't get what he was implying.

"Remember? What we talked about last night?" he whispered to her.

Lynn's eyes widened as she remembered. "Oh my… do you think that something actually happened between them?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. There's a chance, though, and I don't want to lose it."

"Why do you care so much?" she asked with the curiosity of the killed cat. "Do you want to play matchmaker that badly, Girl Guru?"

"Because I want to look out for Lucy. I want her to be happy, and I think Lily is really good for her. Besides… it would be nice to have another couple like… like _us _around..." he admitted. His head seemed to dangle with shame at his supposed selfishness. Lynn lifted his face up, and she gave the comforting smile of both an older sister and a soulmate.

"Let's go play Cupid, stupid."

Man, he loved her.

They peaked their heads around the corner, and found the blonde and the ravenette standing by the stairs. It was so weird seeing them together; they seemed like polar opposites in every aspect. But then again, maybe that's why they worked. They were like the sun and the moon… if the moon were the bigger one. Um... maybe like a bright sun wrapped in black storm clouds just before the rain fell?

Metaphors weren't exactly Lynn and Lincoln's forte.

"Lynnja time," said Lynn, leaping and ducking behind the couch so she could overhear her sisters.

"Lincja time," said Lincoln, jumping clumsily and tripping over his shoes until he landed by Lynn's side with a thud that made the agile girl roll her eyes. He dusted himself off briskly and checked to see if either of the girls had heard his blunder, but they seemed too distracted by each other.

"...I think we have to talk about it," Lucy was saying.

"What's… what's there to talk about?" Lily said with a shy hesitation.

Lucy sighed, then spoke in a voice that superficially resembled her classic brand of monotone, but was undercut with rising tides of emotion. "You know what I mean."

"Listen, Luce, we don't have to talk about it. What happened last night was just a m-mistake..."

"A _mistake_?" Lucy hissed. "Was it a mistake when you asked me to kiss you, or was it a mistake when I kissed you on your cheek instead of on your mouth like you wanted? Was it a mistake when you begged me to t-touch you?"

Lily's face was burning now. She kept her gaze low, and took a deep breath. "Yes," she said, without a hint of emotion or feeling. "It was mistake. Something that just happened because it was long day, and I was feeling confused. I don't… I don't love you."

Lucy gasped, and Lily quickly realized her mistake. "No, no, wait, I didn't mean that. I meant I don't love you _that way. _I still love you. Y-You're my older sister."

"I get it," Lucy said, fury and hurt clear in her voice. Her whole body shook with anger, and she balled her fists so tightly that her painted nails dug into the pad of her palm and drew blood while her knuckles whitened even beyond their normal paleness. "You love me like a sister. So basically because you're forced to. You love me because we came out of the same womb, not because I mean anything to you."

"That's not what I meant!" Lily protested. The dynamic had changed. Lily was now in the weaker spot, and it showed: her voice shook and her eyes began to fill with tears.

"Save it," Lucy growled, stepping past the young girl and going up the stairs. Her black boots stomped into each step, but before she could disappear from Lily's sight, she spun around. Her bangs flew so fast when she turned to face Lily that Lily could see the same gray eyes she saw last night…

...only now they were filled with malice and sadness.

"This is my fault," said Lucy. "I should've known you're no better than the rest of them. In fact… _you're worse._"

She then ran up the stairs and dove into her room before she had the chance to feel bad and apologize.

"N-No," breathed Lily. She fell to the ground, and stared at the carpet. She felt hot tears drip down her face and watched as they fell on the spot of rug she hovered over. "This is wrong," she said. "This is all wrong."

She began to sniffle and cry, reaching up to wipe her nose and eyes. "Why… why did I say that to her?"

"Lincoln, don't you think-" Lynn started from behind the couch, but Lincoln quickly shook his head.

"I don't think we can do anything for her," he said. "It's bad enough now, but it'll be so much worse if she knew someone overheard."

"Y-Yeah, I get that, but..." Lynn trailed off and looked back at Lily, her eyes full of pity.

* * *

Upstairs, Lucy was in the same state as Lily, only she didn't have two guardian angels watching over her. She was curled up on her bed, pillow pressed to her chest and face. Her toes dug into the bed as she grit her teeth and felt water started to flow gently out of her eyes.

"_Why?_"

The question hung in the air, without a clear recipient. Maybe it was meant for the spirits Lucy tried to ask questions of. Maybe it was meant for the Almighty to explain His decision to her. Maybe… maybe it was meant for the ones that she had let into her heart once upon a time.

Rocky.

Lincoln.

And now Lily.

She clutched the pillow, and used it to prop herself up as she cried.

* * *

Lori hummed to herself as she rummaged through Lisa's things. Her head bobbed from side to side as she sung her happy tune, and her hair bounced with every motion. She was completely unaware of anything going on outside. Shame too. She would've been delighted to see Lily so defeated… so broken~

But since she didn't know, she busied herself by digging around in Lisa's makeshift lab in her room. Specifically, she was looking through the chemicals and samples Lisa had collected. "Come on, come on, where is it?" she said out of frustration, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Ugh."

It was risky business, she knew. Any moment now one of the three people who slept in this room would be back, and then Lori would be in for it. She could maybe lie to Lana and claim she was looking for medicine, but not the other two. Lisa would immediately realize that the medicine was far away from where she was searching, and start interrogating her. And Lola? That blonde bimbo would click her little heels with glee as she called for Lisa like a little tattletale.

But it was necessary! Bobby needed her to murder Lily, and Lori had the perfect plan. The most important part of her plan was that she needed to make it look like an accident. _It was an accident that took my little baby sister's life, officer, I swear!_ And it had to be a good one, too. She couldn't just walk up to Lily, beat her with a club, and then call out, "Oooooooooooooooooops," as Lily's broken body gushed blood on her sandals.

No, the best accident would be one where Lori wouldn't have to be near the scene. It had to be one no human could do. And if there was a job a human couldn't do, well… there was a reason humans went all out to control every other lifeform on the face of the planet.

If only she could find said lifeform.

"Aha, I literally got you," said Lori as she pulled out a large case of vials with the utmost care. She grinned with insane glee as her eyes darted over every single one. They were all diseases that Lisa was experimenting on. Well, not anymore. Her initial goal was to take these horrid diseases and perfect them in a form of biological warfare that would never be allowed by the UN… but would definitely be allowed by people who actually had power. Of course, through the course of her research, Lisa seemed to develop a moral compass and kept the work she was now ashamed of hidden away from the world.

Whatever. It literally didn't matter to Lori. She scanned the labels of each container, scowling at the time it took to find the one she needed right now.

"Ebola… malaria… zika… bird flu… seriously, where is it?"

She looked at the top right corner, and her eyes shone. A sick smile curled onto her face, bringing to mind the image of a more beautiful, more terrifying version of the Grinch.

"Rabies," she read the name aloud.

_Literally perfect._

She pulled the vial out of its case and away from its mutated brethren. Hopefully Lisa wouldn't mind if she… ahem… _borrowed_ it. She probably wouldn't even notice. But if she did have any objection… well, Lori would gladly watch two bodies drop to the floor if it meant being with her precious Boo Boo Bear~

"Phase One complete," Lori muttered to herself as she slipped the bottle into her pocket. She also decided that, while she was there, she might as well take some good ole fashioned poison. Never know when it might come in handy…

She turned around, and saw that the family dog Charles was sitting by the door. The canine cocked his head, and Lori scowled at him.

"Beat it, puppy," she thundered.

That frightened the dog enough to make him flee. So now, in addition to being a cruel sister and plotting out a murder, she had scared a dog. Now you _know _Lori is evil!

She slipped out of the youngest sisters' room, hoping that she didn't do anything to make the vial break. She knew that rabies had to be transmitted by bite, but she also knew that Lisa had tampered with it. Made it stronger and more efficient. For all Lori knew, she could've tampered with her sample's DNA enough to make it airborne.

The thought made her hesitate for a moment, but then she shook her head.

"No. Lisa's not _that_ insane," she figured.

In any case, rabies was best transmitted by bite. An infected mammal had to bite a person to get them infected. And Lori had the perfect little mammal in mind~ She wanted something small. She wanted something with sharp teeth. And, ideally, she wanted something scary, to fit the atmosphere of her murky scheme.

And indeed, that perfect little animal was waiting right around the corner.

The door to Lucy's room was closed, and the sign outside read STAY OUT in blood red. Lori frowned and pressed her ear to the door, listening for any signs. She could hear muffled crying, but that was what she expected from the gloomy girl. Probably something stupid, too. _Oh boo hoo, I'm Lucy. I have an upper middle class family that loves me and I go to a good school and come home to eat food that the homeless would cut off their limbs for. Wah wah, cry for me, I'm soooooooo depressed._

But Lori wasn't here for the goth. She was here for something else.

She looked up at the top of the door frame, and she couldn't believe her luck. She extended her hand upwards, and she made a low whistling sound. "Here Fangs," she said to the bat, snapping her fingers at the small beast. "Here boy."

The bat shot her a strained look. _Do I look like a dog to you?_

"Come on," Lori said to it. "I have some nice, uh, fruit for you."

Fangs wasn't interested. He wasn't a fruit bat. He came from a traditional family.

"How about some blood?"

The bat didn't even flinch.

"Crickets?" Lori tried a finally time.

That was when the bat perked up. Fangs' ears twitched and his wings flapped as he swooped down to the arm of his mistress' older sister. Lori shook her arm in disgust as Fangs landed on it, but she remembered not to throw the flying rodent off.

This flying rodent was going to help her give Lily rabies!

Lori stroked the fur of the bat, and she held back her bile as she did. It felt nothing like stroking Cliff. _Ew, ew, ew, literally EW!_

The bat's eyes were wide as he waited for his bug food treat. Lori walked him down to Lily's room, and put Lucy's pet on the desk. She then pulled the vial of pestilence out of her pocket, along with a syringe she had taken with her for this very purpose. Fangs' head cocked to the side. Were the crickets inside that thing?

"Now, Fangs, I'm going to feed you using this," Lori said in a comforting, soothing voice. Her voice was nice, but her eyes… her eyes scared Fangs. Still, he didn't budge from his place. After all, Lori was his mistress' sister. She was his mistress' family, which meant she was _his _family. And family should be trusted, no matter what. That was the logic that kept the bat in place as Lori stuck the syringe inside the vial and sucked out the disease.

She held in her hand the instrument of what would hopefully be Lily's death. She was so excited she could hardly contain herself. "Can you see me, Bobby?" She spun in her place, her eyes glossed over with zeal. "Can you see me prove my love for you?" She seemed almost like an Indian dancer, dancing for the gods. But in Lori's case, there was only one god she believed in.

Not the god who died on the cross, like the rest of her family.

She believed in the god that had come to her in the garage.

She plunged the needle into Fangs, and the bat tried his best not to move. He didn't want to disturb Lori, after all, no matter how much it hurt. Oh, and it did hurt. She stuck the shot in his lower back, and the bat felt a fire race through his circulation. It felt like it was going towards his brain. But it was okay. This was Lucy's sister. She would never… never...

Um, who was Lucy again?

Was… was Lucy the tall blonde woman stabbing him? Wait, why was she stabbing him? Who was this woman? Why did she hate him enough to hurt him like this? What… what's going on?

Fangs began to shriek and flap his wings as his mind became clouded. Lori ducked out of the door in the nick of time, for soon the kindly bat was staring at the room with eyes of paranoid fear. He flew around, unable to escape, and wondered about the captives that had kept him here. The blonde woman… she had done this to him!

There's a funny thing about fear. Fear has an alarming tendency to lead to anger. And anger… well, anger led to hate.

So it was hate that filled the bat as he flew to the corner of the room, his eyes watching the door. He thought the blonde might come back, and his fangs would be ready for her, bared and poised to strike.

So he sat there, waiting patiently for a blonde to enter...

* * *

Lily crawled up the stairs, feeling worse than ever. She had stopped crying now, but now that all the tears were out, she felt hollow inside. A sigh came out of her lips, and she walked down to her room. Maybe she'd listen to some Breaking Benjamin. She knew how the song went. _Dear agony! Just let go of me!_

She put her hand on the doorknob, ready to open the door to her room…

...when suddenly she felt an arm on her shoulder.

She looked back. "We need to talk," Lynn said, dragging her away from her room, much to Lily's protest.

"Let go of me, Lynn!"

"Not a chance, squirt."

"I'm really not in the mood."

Lynn took Lily into her room, and closed the door behind her. The blonde frowned at her athletic sister, wishing for a moment that she could punch those stupid freckled cheeks and get away with it without being clobbered into oblivion. Lily sat down on the ground, Indian-style, and her face was cross.

"You know you can sit on the beds, right?" Lynn told her.

"Knowing what you and Lincoln do on them… no thanks."

Lynn was visibly offended. "Oh, so what me and Lincoln do is wrong, but it's perfectly fine when you start perving on Little Miss Doom and Gloom, huh?"

Lily gasped. "How do you know about that?" Then her eyes narrowed, and her tone turned more accusatory and displeased. "You were spying on us, weren't you?"

This was clearly going nowhere. Lynn hated to be the one who backed down from a fight, but she knew it was more important to help Lily than to win another useless battle. She shook her head and sighed. "Alright," she said. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. Let's start over. Yeah, I overheard you and Lucy fighting. Me and Lincoln both did. He told me not to get involved, but fuck him, I'm the older one, he can't tell me what to do."

"And what do you want to do?" asked Lily.

Lynn balled up a fist and held it to her face. "I want to help you with Lucy. And don't say you don't need it, because sister, what I just saw between you two made me wanna cry."

"There's nothing to help. There's nothing going on between us. At least… not anymore. Not after this morning..."

Lily glanced at the side, and Lynn knelt down on one knee. She put her hand on Lily's shoulder, forcing the younger girl to look into her sister's face. Lynn smiled at her, without a hint of pride or bravado. It was an encouraging, sisterly smile.

"It's never too late," she assured Lily. "You two can work this out. You're both smart and kind young people who just... got caught up in a big foul."

Lily couldn't believe she was about to ask what she was about to ask, but she asked it anyways. "Lynn, did anything like this happen between you and Lincoln?"

"Oh, definitely," Lynn said without missing a beat. "Towards the beginning, it was a nightmare between us. We were always feeling guilty, always crying and fighting and screaming, and always worried about someone finding out or about how mentally ill we were to be in love with each other."

The athlete chuckled, as if these were fond memories.

"And trust me, Lily, we've said way worse stuff to each other then I've heard you and Lucy spit today. So I've got experience when I say this'll work out. Trust me." She gave Lily the 'okay' hand gesture.

"What about your worst fight?" Lily asked. "What happened then? How did you solve it?"

Lynn's face, previously smiling, darkened as she thought about it. "Dang, Lily, that's some serious stuff you just pulled back up," she said with a humorless chuckle. "It was way, way, _way _back in the day. We were still at the kissing stage. And boy, me and him had a fight and we were not prepared to deal with it."

"What happened?" asked Lily, leaning in.

"It was all so stupid. It was just a dumb joke he made. He said something… fuck, I don't even remember what he said. But whatever it was, it was a bad time. I'm pretty sure I was in the middle of the worst period of my life… period as in my cooch was bleeding," Lynn clarified. "But anyways, I just let loose on him in the worst ways. Told him everything I could to hurt him. He got angry, and started saying everything he could to hurt me. And then it went from talking to punching and kicking. And then we… we threw each other down the stairs."

"I remember that," Lily said. "You two said the ground was wet and you slipped."

"We lied. Point is, we hospitalized each other, and I was pretty sure our relationship was about as dead as Mohammed Hassan's WWE career. Usually when we fought, it ended with him saying he was sorry, but now he was too pissed. And you know how I made up with him?"

Lily shook her head.

"I swallowed my pride, womaned the fuck up, and said I was sorry."

Lynn looked up at the ceiling, as if in deep thought. "I never would've thought that was possible," she said, "until I started being with him. He made me a better person. I… I wonder if I did the same for him..."

She then looked back at Lily, as if she forgot she was there. "We made up, our love stronger than ever. And when we were finally healthy again we… we tried out a new sport in this room," Lynn finished her story with a perverted grin.

"Lynn, stop, I don't want to hear that."

"He gave me a nice _touchdown._"

"Lynn, seriously!"

"My endzone was completely-"

Lily got up, threatening to leave, so Lynn agreed to stop. "You're no fun," the jock told her.

"I think I get what you're saying. You're basically saying that even though I said all those nasty things to Lucy, maybe we can still..."

Lynn nodded, and Lily sighed. "But the problem is that I don't even know if I want to _be _with her."

"Oh, stop it with that Rachel and Ross will-they-won't-they crap. You do want her, it's plain as day. Never pegged you as a lesbian, though," Lynn said thoughtfully. "You really are like a mini-Luna."

"_Lynn!_"

"Listen, Lily, my point is that-"

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. It opened, and Leni stuck her head through the wide open space. "Hey, have either of you two seen Lily?" the blonde asked. Lynn and Lily didn't answer. They waited for her to figure it out on her own.

When she did, her face seemed to turn pink. "Oh, whoops, here you are."

"What's up, Lenster?" asked Lily.

"I can't find my uniform. Have you seen it anywhere, roomie?"

"Don't you have the week off?" asked Lynn.

"I'm supposed to. But I promised Fiona I'd cover her shift. She really needs the time off. Her older sister is having a baby."

"Oh. Congratulations to her sis," said Lynn.

"I haven't seen it, Leni," Lily told her. "Maybe just think about the last place you've seen it."

Leni put a finger under her lip as she thought about it. "Either in the basement next to the washing machine," she remembered, "or in my room. I think I'll check there."

"Hope you find it," Lily called out to her sister. She then turned her attention back to her other sister.

"My point is that if you two are meant to be together, you will be together. Just have to have faith. I… I honestly hope things work out with between you and Luce," said Lynn. "She was my roommate for a long time, Lils, and I care so much about her. If you can make her happy..."

"If I can, I'll try," said Lily with a confident nod.

Lynn returned the nod, her face sporting an expression that was a mix of assuredness and relief. She put her hand on Lily's small shoulder again, and opened her mouth to say something-

Whatever she was going to say was cut short when the two of them heard something that curdled their blood.

A loud scream from down the hall.

"BAT! HELP ME!" Leni screamed, bursting into the hall and slamming into the wall. All the siblings came out of their rooms and watched as Fangs flew sporadically above their heads. Flying above them so quickly and shakily, he seemed like little more than a black blur, but even then Lily could see there was something wrong with him.

Lucy came out of her room, and her face whitened. "Fangs, NO!" she cried out.

The bat didn't respond to her voice. He continued to fly and swoop down threateningly until Lisa came out with a net and captured the small mammal. "Got you!" she yelled as she trapped Fangs.

"Don't hurt him," Lucy begged.

"I wasn't planning on it," Lisa said. She handed the net to Luna, who held onto it tightly. Lisa quickly went over to Leni's side, and knelt by her sister. The girl clutched her ankle and whined from the pain. "Leni, tell me… did he bite you?"

"Y-Yes," she admitted. "Like, what do you think I'm holding?"

"Show me," said Lisa.

Leni removed her hands, and Lisa sighed: this was a worst case scenario. "Okay, Leni, there's no time to lose," she said, taking the taller girl's hand and dragged her towards the stairs. "I'm taking you to my lab. I need to check you for rabies."

"Rabies?" repeated Lola in a fearful tone.

"Yes. Fangs was a docile pet, so his sudden aggression could be a sign of infection. And if he was, and he bit Leni, then..."

Lisa swallowed. She didn't want to continue her sentence.

As Leni went with her, she looked back at all her siblings and gave them a warm Leni-smile. "Don't worry, guys," she told them. "It's probably nothing. And if there is something, then I'm sure Lisa can fix it."

Her smile was so potent, and her faith so strong that, for a moment, everyone felt reassured.

Lisa turned her head to Lucy just before she left. "Lucy, I'd recommend staying out of your room for now," said the young scientist. "You don't know if your other bats are infected. For your safety, please consider your room quarantined and find another place to sleep."

"She can sleep in Lily's room," suggested Lynn, "if Leni is okay with that."

"Totes," said Leni cheerfully.

As Lisa took Leni down to the lab to be cured, Lily and Lucy both gulped.

"We're going to sleep… _together?_"

* * *

"No… not Leni."

Watching Lisa help a limping Leni down the stairs caused Lori to discover her mistake, and she was swiftly swarmed by regret. She had hurt _Leni. _For years, Leni had been both her roommate and her best friend. H-How could she have done this to her?

"Maybe Lisa can cure her," she figured to herself. "A-after all, she did make the stupid thing. Maybe she can find a cure for it."

"_Don't worry about Lisa and Leni right now. Worry about yourself."_

Lori spun around, and looked into the mirror she kept propped up on the garage wall. Inside was not her own reflection, but instead there was Bobby. A very displeased Bobby.

"I… I am so sorry, Bobby. I failed you."

"_You have no idea how badly you failed," _he said in a tone so harsh it hurt Lori's ears. _"Not only did you fail to take out Lily, but you infected the wrong person instead. And then you let _Lisa_ take her. Do you have any idea what that means? If she examines Leni, she'll know it wasn't regular rabies. She's going to find out it was her special rabies, and then it'll all come back to YOU!"_

Lori flinched and fell back, and the image of Bobby regarded her curiously. _"Why did you flinch?" _he asked.

"I… I thought you were going to… p-punish me."

"_Punish you? Why would I do that?" _he asked, before putting on a dark grin. _"I can just have you do it for me."_

"What?"

He poured his instructions into her mind, and Lori understood. She tearfully crawled over to the corner, and found a whip waiting for her, like he had placed it there with ESP. She picked it up, took a deep breath… and whipped her back.

She screamed with pain, but Bobby wouldn't let her stop flagellating herself until she passed out.

* * *

When night came, Lily and Lucy walked to the same room together. Lily looked up at her sister, and Lucy looked down at her sister.

Lynn's words replayed in Lily's mind... especially about her apology.

"I'm sorry," Lily mumbled. "I didn't mean what I said."

Lucy regarded her, thankfully not coldly. "We'll talk in your room," she said.

When the two girls went in, they both knew the night had just begun.


	5. Chapter 5

**That Engineer: You have to remember this isn't regular rabies. It's super-rabies!**

**Guest: Yep. Pretty much haha**

* * *

After a full half hour of the two sisters exchanging nothing but quiet, Lily decided she needed to be the one to break the silence.

She looked over to Leni's bed, to the shadowy girl currently stretching her silky legs over the blanket while she stared at her phone, and coughed. Lucy shot her a quick glance, which made Lily flinch. "So, um, you said we were going to t-talk about it," started Lily with a nervous hitch.

"Fine," said Lucy. She mumbled darkly under her breath as she put her phone down and sat up, crossing her legs Indian-style. "Let's talk about it. I believe you were in the middle of an apology."

_This is going to be rough, _thought Lily. She nodded, though. "I said I was sorry outside. And I am. I shouldn't have tried to push you off earlier, and I shouldn't have said… what I said."

She didn't want to repeat the offensive statement.

"Maybe I don't know exactly how I feel," Lily said, "and I think that's natural. I mean, I'm a teen girl. Everyone always tells me that I don't know how I feel and that I'm always confused. And I tell them that they're wrong, because I'm smarter than they are and I know it. But, for once, I get what they mean. Because… Because of you."

"Because of… me..." Lucy repeated. She tried to maintain a neutral tone, but there were hints of interest and wonder mixed in. It was like drops of sweet vanilla in a drink that was otherwise bland and coarse. Lily drunk it in, feeding it to her heart.

"I can't tell you exactly how I feel. But I do know one thing that, no matter what, won't change… I love you, Lucy. Whether it's a-as a sister or literally anything else, I love you. And maybe I don't know _why _it is that I do, but that's why I wanted to get closer to you. That's why I wanted to talk to you, learn more about you. Because I want to learn what you mean to me."

Lucy didn't say anything, which made Lily reflect on her out-pour of emotion. Was it too much? Was it "cringey" as some would say?

Then Lucy reacted, and Lily focused her everything on her.

The goth opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it and bit on her finger. She seemed to need time to think. When she opened her mouth the second time, she did the same, and Lily began to worry a little. "Lucy?" she prodded.

"I can't… Sigh. I don't know what to say."

"Just say what you feel. That… that usually works for me," said Lily with a weak yet encouraging smile.

"You wouldn't want to hear that. Trust me," responded Lucy, and Lily couldn't tell if she was being coy with her or not. The goth then reached for a glass of cold water by her bed, and drank from it. As the water flooded her throat, she felt more refreshed, perhaps enough to start over and try again.

"I've always had a problem with falling in love," Lucy admitted. Despite how much Lily had hurt her, she still felt safe in the younger teen's presence; like she could tell her anything, and she wouldn't repeat it to a soul. "Two problems, actually. The first is that I don't have any taboos to worry about. I've fallen in love with guys and girls, with r-relatives and non-related people. That's a gift and a curse for the same reasons. Because I never know who I'm going to fall for next. It's harmless when it's something stupid like a vampire on a TV show, but when it's a real life person, who can actually reject me and h-hurt me..."

She shivered, and her black dress rippled.

"And that's my second problem. I get too attached too fast. And it's never worked out. Rocky was the worst case. Maybe that's why he hurt the most. Well, he hurt the most until… until this morning..."

Lily's eyes blinked with hurt. She felt and looked like she had been slapped in the face. Lucy wondered if she had said too much.

But that was all the more reason to keep going. No sense in stopping now.

"You may not know how you feel about me, but I know how I feel about you. I love you. Romantically. In such a short time, you did what so few people in this house can do... are even willing to do… and that was make me feel loved. I felt like finally, _finally_, there was someone who cared about Lucy Loud. Finally there was someone who didn't just think of me as some spooky girl that popped up in the background and said 'Boo'. Finally someone... who loved me."

"Lucy..."

"I kissed you and touched you when you asked me too. And it wasn't because it was your birthday, but because I loved you in those moments. I wanted… I wanted to be tender and rough and gentle and warm to you. It didn't matter, just as long as I got to touch you, to smell your hair, to look into your eyes, to be… one with you."

She clasped her hands on her bosom. "That's everything I can say," Lucy finished, looking up at Lily with her gray eyes. Though Lily couldn't see them behind the wall of obsidian hair, she felt them pierce her mind and soul.

"I messed up," Lily said sadly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I can't ever stop saying sorry."

"You don't have to say keep saying sorry," Lucy told her, flashing her a sweet yet sad smile. "You said you loved me. Even if it's not the way I love you, it's still powerful enough to keep away the cold."

"Hold on, Lucy, I..." Lily trailed off at the end, not sure what to say.

The curtain behind her was slightly parted, enough for a beam of moonlight to slip past the window. It was soft and silvery, and it wrapped around Lucy like a carefully done bow. Lucy's skin, pale and white as it was, reflected the moonlight perfectly, so it seemed to Lily that she had a halo - an aura - of beauty that no human being could ever achieve. She seemed like the goddess of the moon.

Lily could've told her that she loved her the responsible way. That she only loved her as a younger sister loves her older sister. And that would've been true. But it also wouldn't have been.

Her heart was beating. Choice was weighing down on her like a mountain placed on her thin shoulders.

_How can I tell her in the way she deserves to know? How can I make her feel the way I feel, so she knows how strongly I need her?_

And that's when it hit her.

"_Music_," she whispered.

Lucy cocked her head in confusion. "Music?" she repeated quizzically. The rhythm enthusiast didn't take notice, though. She was giddy and overwhelmed with thankfulness. She raised her eyes to the sky and mouthed _Thank You _to the heavens for giving her a mentor like Luna.

"Lucy, lie down on the floor with me," Lily told her. Lucy frowned, but obliged her. She lay down folding her hands and arms like a mummy, and Lily jumped down to the floor happily with her. Their heads were touching, and their hairs mingled together like a braided ribbon of sunshine and blackness. They were both blushing, Lucy blushing much harder than Lily, who chuckled shyly as she placed her phone by their crowns.

_If music really is the universal language, that let it prove itself now, _prayed Lily.

"I want you to choose something for us to listen to," the blonde said to the ravenette.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Do you trust me, Luce?"

There was a pause, followed by a wavering "Yes" from Lucy.

"Then choose something for us. Choose something you think you need me to listen to."

Lucy sighed, then reached for Lily's phone. It was a lot smaller than her own, so it took her a second to calibrate. Lily had already opened up her Music app, and Lucy marveled at the hundreds of musicians and albums that were already waiting for her. It was like the Library of Alexandria, but for rock music instead of dusty tomes from the ages of Antiquity. She glanced over at Lily, and Lily could see wonder on her face.

"I don't practice music like Luna does, so I have a lot more time to listen to other people's stuff," she explained. "So can you see what you want? You can go online if it's not there."

"One second," Lucy rasped. Her finger flicked the screen, and her eyes read every band name that appeared. She had a vague idea of what she wanted to listen to. She felt that the perfect song would appear for her in time.

Finally, it did.

She showed it to Lily, and the blonde raised an eyebrow. "Perfect Drug from Nine Inch Nails. Don't think I've listened to that one," she said, before returning her eyes to Lucy's soft face. "Why Perfect Drug?"

_Because that's what you are to me._

Lucy wanted to say that, but it felt too on-the-nose. Not to mention desperate. Sigh.

"I think you'll like it," she chose instead. She hit the arrow button that got the song to start playing, and placed it down where Lily had put it before; between their heads, by their ears, but not so close that it kept them from touching.

The song started with chilling words, and right off the bat Lucy knew she had made the right choice.

_I got my head but my head is unraveling_

_Can't keep control can't keep of where it's traveling_

_I got my heart but my heart's no good_

_You're the only one that's understood_

Lucy was too afraid to meet Lily's eyes. She let out a shuddering breath as she let the lyrics wash over her. She could only imagine what Lily was thinking. She was… scared to know.

_I come along but I don't know where you're taking me_

_I shouldn't go but you're wrenching, dragging, shaking me_

_Turn off the sun pull the stars from the sky_

_The more I give to you the more I die_

Here she heard a puff of breath from Lily. Maybe it was her imagination, but she could sense… regret…

_And I want you_

_And I want you _

_And I want you_

_And I want you _

"I want you," Lucy whispered in a whisper so soft Lily missed it.

_You are the perfect drug_

_The perfect drug_

_The perfect drug_

_The perfect drug_

"The perfect drug," Lily whispered in a whisper so soft Lucy missed it.

The rest of the song played. Their emotions felt like toys to the lyrics. Every word of the song seemed to encapsulate some aspect of the last few hours. It was all there: the hurt, the opening up, the fear, the hesitance, the forbidden feel, the… the _need _that Lucy felt. It was sung was to Lily in a way that she could never do herself. A new realm opened before her eyes. One of understanding… and love…

The song ended with the same lines repeated. _Without you, without you everything falls apart/without you, it's not as much fun to pick up the pieces. _

Lucy didn't dare reach to touch the phone until Mr. Nine Inch Nails was done singing his haunting words. What she did dare do, though, was look into the eyes of her younger sister. The blue eyes of Lily refreshed her. They made her feel alive when she looked into them. If her own eyes were the gray beach sands, then Lily's eyes were the blue ocean.

Endless, beautiful, and breathtaking.

"L-Lily," she said her name with the tone of someone naming their savior.

The music enthusiast held up a finger, closing her eyes somberly, and waited for the song to end. Even though it was the same phrase repeated, there was something in them that she needed.

Then it was done. The phone was silent, and so was the room.

"You know, we learned something in biology class the other day," Lily whispered softly, sitting up right. She propped herself with her arm, her elbow digging into the carpet. "The teacher told us that there's a theory out there that states that there is an animal in every environment that communicates by song. In the sky, the birds. In the oceans, the whales. And on land… us."

"Lily, I..."

"I'm sorry, Lucy," said Lily, unable to hold back the tears anymore. They spilled from her eyes and rushed down her face. Each felt like a fiery waterfall. "I didn't know how much I hurt you. I didn't know how much I meant t-to you. Lucy, I love you! I don't want to hurt you anymore!

"Lily…" Lucy said her name for the third time, with the tone of astonishment.

Hands wrapped themselves around the crying Lily's face. They cupped her cheeks, and Lily looked up. Through her blurry eyes, she saw a miracle. Lucy Loud was smiling at her. Not a smile of humor or a smile of pleasure, but one of deep, deep… what was the name of that emotion?

Ah yes. _Love._

"You don't hurt me, Lily," Lucy told her. Her tone was frail, and she choked on her upcoming words. But as Lily had just shown, there are some things that need to be said, but are better unsaid.

So Lucy didn't say she loved Lily. She showed her.

She kissed her on her lips, and held on.

Lily's tear-filled eyes widened. She peered behind the vale of dark threading that was Lucy's hair, and she saw Lucy's eyes were closed. Even still, she wanted to see them.

A shaking, nervous hand reached to touch Lucy. Her fingers brushed against the older sister's skin, and it felt hot to touch, burning with passion and love. The hairs were swept aside, and Lucy's eyes became visible to her once again. Especially when she opened them, and the two pairs of irises met.

Their lips separated.

Their breaths were in unison.

"I love you," the two girls said to each other.

Then they kissed again.

As they kissed, Lucy stood up, and Lily was forced to follow her to keep their mouths glued together. The younger sister's eyes flickered open slightly, and she could see that Lucy's hand was grasping the lacy hem of her dress. When Lucy ended the kiss, she paid no attention to Lily as she took her dress off and put it on her bed with the utmost care. She turned back to Lily, and her body was flushed with excitement.

Lily drank in her half-naked sister's physique. She was thin, and her blooming breasts were hidden behind a darkly colored bra. Lily's eyes descended, traveling down the goth's milky flesh, to her fishnet-covered legs, where her sex was hidden by an equally dark pair of panties.

"Luce… are you sure we can do this?" Lily asked in a subdued voice.

"Why shouldn't we?"

"Because… because it's supposed to be wrong for people to have sex so soon."

She wasn't protesting. She was asking her sister to tell her why it was right.

"You're my sister. My _younger _sister. Earlier today, we hurt each other. And I'm a broken women, dead to all romances except the one you offer me. So please, tell me Lily, what could make this more wrong?"

Sweat dripped from Lily's forehead as she stepped forward and hooked her fingers around Lucy's panties. "Can… can I?"

Lucy nodded, and Lily pulled her underwear off. She had to lift Lucy's leg to be able to throw them to the side, but once she did… and she found Lucy's sex completely on display. There was only the barest hint of hair. The moonlight from before cast its touch on her body, and Lily saw that her womanhood glistened.

"You look like you've never seen one before," Lucy said in a rare attempt at a joke. "Don't you also have one between your legs?"

"I do."

Lucy leaned in, and whispered, "_I think I'd like to see it._"

As Lily struggled with her own clothes, Lucy reached to her back and swiped off her bra. Her orbs were now fully visible, unobscured by any cloth. The air licked at her sensitive nipples, and Lucy hissed. _Hurry Lily, _she demanded internally.

Lily took off her shirt first, tossing it easily to the side. She didn't take her off anything else, though. She stood there topless, in only her jeans. She bit down on her lip as she touched her chest, rolling her pert nipple in her hand. "Do you… like them?" she asked softly.

Her fingers separated, so that Lucy could see the dark spot surrounded by light flesh. Lucy strode towards her, and it was only then that they noticed how much taller she was. It wasn't by much, but from Lily's perspective, Lucy might as well have been a giant.

Lucy pushed her down softly on the bed, and Lily landed with a gasp on her back. Lucy got down on her knees, and she smiled. "Let me show you how much I like them."

Her hand reached up to touch Lily's left boob, while her mouth went to Lily's right side. Her lips latched themselves to Lily's succulent breast, and her tongue flicked her nipple. Lily gasped and shot her head back. Inside her pants, her core began to pool.

"Ah, Lucy… your mouth is so warm!"

It surprisingly was. Lily was expecting it to feel frosty.

Lucy's tongue twirled on Lily's breast, like an ice skater dancing and sliding on their field. With each lick and taste Lucy took, she became more and more addicted to the flavor of her sister's flesh. She was drunk on it. It was the perfect drug. Her tongue was swift when it came to lashing the teen's breast. Lily groaned loudly, only to bite down when she remembered how thin the walls in their home could be. If she cried out and wailed like a banshee, they would get caught by someone. And if it wasn't Lynn or Lincoln, there might be hell to pay.

The risk only made the reward that much sweeter.

As Lucy played with her breasts, Lily felt her hand descend past Lucy's own chest and dig into her pants. She struggled, due to the tightness of her jeans, but she finally made it into her underwear. Lucy's assault on her nipples was relentless and fierce, as she transitioned from simply licking and massaging them to full-on biting and pinching. It was like a contest to see which one of them could squeeze down tighter. Which one of them could draw milk, if that was even possible. But there was much pleasure to be had with the pain, and as Lily's breaths began to become ragged, her hand touched her garden. A static shock of electricity rushed through her body, and her nipples, already hard, perked again.

Lily was completely helpless now. All she could do was frig herself with her hand while Lucy sampled her. The feeling was euphoric and wonderful. How could she have been stupid enough to say that this, _this_, could somehow be wrong?

"You're so good, Luce," she complimented, her other hand releasing the blanket it had been gripping and reaching to preen Lucy's hair. "I love you."

Lucy raised her mouth momentarily, a thin line of drool still attached. "I love you too," she said.

Maybe it was those words, or maybe it was the work that had already been done on her inexperienced body, but Lily threw her head back as her fingers dug into her pussy. "I… I..." she repeated, and then cried out and jerked her back as a wave of orgasm flowed out of her. She was pretty sure she had just ruined her underwear, but she couldn't care less. All Lily could think about was how great her first climax had been, and as the euphoric haze set in, a line from the song came back to her;

_I got my head but my head is unraveling_

_This probably isn't what he meant, _Lily thought, _but art is subjective._

"See, this is why you should've taken off your pants," Lucy grunted as she started tugging Lily's jeans and underwear off. Lily let out an embarrassed cry, as if she were still innocent enough to do that, and watched as the ravenette flung them away. She grinned wolfishly when she saw Lily's sensitive organ. So wet, so _anticipating…_

Lucy licked her fingers and then, without any warning, jammed them inside her sister. Lily cried out at the feeling of three appendages wiggling around inside her, scratching her intense arousal as if it were a bad itch. "Lucy, please wait, I just..."

She couldn't stop herself. She came again. And every time Lucy dug her fingers in, she found another spurt of squirt when she pulled them out.

"Oh, that was really fast," cooed Lucy as Lily lay on the bed, panting heavily and sweating hard.

"I just came, lady!" protested the blonde.

"Still, it was fast."

"I'd like to see you last longer."

Lucy grinned, and pressed her butt against the floor. She scooted back a little, and spread her legs wide open so Lily could see her garden of sin again.

"_Try me~_"

Lily's tiny tongue flitted out of her mouth, and licked her lips. Lucy couldn't wait to feel them on her witch's cauldron.

Lily got down on the floor, her skin much pinker and redder than when they started. She was on her knees when she grabbed Lucy's whitish thighs and pulled them closer to her face. She stared at it for a moment, trying to decide what she thought of it. There were juices flowing out, so Lily thought she could make her older sister start cumming fast.

Boy, was she wrong…

She first kissed Lucy's inner thighs. She felt the older girl tremble, and that made her grin. When she found Lucy's lower lips kissing her lips in return, she rolled out her pink tongue and took a long, slow lick. It started at the sensitive top, with Lucy's button, then slid down past the oozing center, and finally ended at the bottom where Lily almost licked Lucy's asshole.

Screw it. She then took a quick lick of Lucy's other hole. YOLO amirite?

Lily's face screwed up with displeasure, and Lucy let out a cool laugh. "Ha Ha. What did you expect?" she said, taking Lily by her short hair and pressing her mouth against her cunt. "Wash it off with this," she bade her. Her voice was dripping with sultry nectar, and it compelled Lily to obey far better than any witchly spell Lucy could've cooked up.

Lily began to lap at Lucy's pussy like a thirsty animal laps water from the river. The sweet taste of Lucy's girlcum flooded her mouth. It was slightly tart, but it was new, and that encouraged Lucy onwards.

Lucy was normally one of the more composed of the Louds, but here she became a mess of writhing and squirming. Her legs flew from side to side while Lily kept her working mouth on her vagina. She was careful not to hit Lily with her toes, though. She hooked her pointer finger around her lower lip and tugged on it. Much like Lily, she had to keep herself from screaming with bliss.

Water began to gush out of Lucy's cunt like a steady stream, but that didn't mean she was done. Lily had failed in her objective of making the goth finish fast, but as far as she was concerned, playing with Lucy was a good reconciliation prize. She tried to bob her head to see if that would do anything for her, but the way Lucy tapped her head told her it wasn't.

It was so strange. To think minutes ago their relationship stood on shaky grounds, and now it was being rebuilt on one of the most memorable moments in a person's life. Lily didn't know if she was Lucy's first time, but she knew that Lucy was her first time, and that she would treasure these memories forever.

Her teeth scraped Lucy's clit, and the ghastly girl let out a moan. Finally finding her weak spot, Lily grinned sinisterly as she placed her top teeth on one side, and her bottom teeth on the other. "Lily, what are you… _EEEEEE!_"

That was not the sound Lily expected when she began nibbling on her clit, but she'd take it. It honestly sounded musical to her.

Pressure began to build up, and Lucy began to inhale forcefully, gulping the air around her. "Lily, a little faster, please, I'm so close," she begged. Her monotone voice was now full of desperate emotion, and Lily had to fulfill. With a rough cry, Lucy bowed her head and came. The cry that burst from her throat brought to mind a throaty pornstar. Her sweetness flooded Lily's mouth, and the young blonde licked her lips when she was done drinking from her sister's well.

"Yum!" she said cheerfully.

Finally, the main event. The two moved in unison, as if they both knew what to do next. Lily spread her legs wide and approached Lucy, straddling her. Their pussies were both wet, so they stuck together when they first touched. Before they got started, Lucy and Lily stared into each other's eyes, and smiled.

"And I want you," Lily sang from the song that stared this all. "And I want you. And I want you. And I want you."

"You are my perfect drug," Lucy finished.

Lily didn't bother correcting the misquoted lyric. She knew it was intentional.

It started with slow pushing, but then escalated into them ramming their genitalia into each other like fighters. Lucy's cheeks were red while Lily bit down on her lip, but the two agreed it wasn't enough. By the time they got to where they wanted to be, they were fully rutting each other. Their climaxes were waiting to spring on them, they knew, but their minds had melted as they were battered by waves of hormones, euphoria and a deep spiritual love. There was a spirit that was watching over their love, they felt. Maybe it was infernal, appreciating the corruption of two sisters. Maybe it was ethereal, appreciating the connection between two lovers. Lily and Lucy didn't know.

_I think I might be letting myself get swept into her crazy little world, _thought Lily.

When the two finally came, it was in unison. Their fluids splashed and attacked the other girl's body, leaving a shimmering coat of cum on their skin. Lucy's body was rocked by bliss, and she fell back on the ground, fireworks blasting off in her mind.

Then Lily fell on top of her. Their naked bodies pressing, the two girls took each other in a deep kiss, and rode their orgasms out together.

"Was it good for you?" Lucy asked her.

"Let's put it like this… if you gave me _this_ for my birthday, I would've considered it the best gift I got," Lily chuckled. "And I got a dog collar and some prehistoric rock, so it's a tough competition."

Lucy smiled softly, humored, before she remembered something. "Ah yes, you just reminded me," said Lucy as she pushed Lily off (gently, I might add) and scrambled to her things. Lily watched her with interest as she searched for what she was looking for, and it had nothing to do with the fact that Lucy's naked ass was shaking in front of her eyes like a private dancer.

When Lucy faced her again, there was something glinting in her hands. She asked Lily to bow her head, and the young blonde did so. She felt Lucy put something around her neck, and it felt a little weighty. She realized it was a necklace, and the goth bade her look.

There was something at the end of the necklace. Lily held it in her hand, and she gasped.

It was a small sword with two dragons wrapped around the blade, like snakes around Mercury's staff. And in the middle of it all was a dark red rock. It might've even been a ruby.

Lily looked up at Lucy, pendant still in hand. "It was with Haiku on the day of your anniversary. Sigh. I wanted to give it to you the day of, but she still wasn't done with it."

It didn't occur to Lily to ask what Haiku needed the necklace for. All she knew was that it was a gift. A gift from Lucy of all people. That made it the best thing in the whole damn world, as far as she was concerned.

She hugged the older girl, and pressed her face to her chest. "I love it," she said. "Thank you, Lucy."

"You're welcome, Lily," Lucy whispered. "Happy birthday. It may have been the day you were torn from safety and comfort to the dangers of the world, but it doesn't have to be all bad."

Lily smiled, knowing that despite their tender love-making, Lucy was still, at the end of the day, Lucy.


	6. Chapter 6

**This is your last warning. Leave now if you have a sensitive stomach.**

* * *

"I-I can't do this, Bobby. I can't."

He looked down at her, his invisible brown eyes wide with pleading. He put something in her hand, and it felt weighty in her palm. It also felt… cold. She braved a peek at it, and shuddered as she confirmed her suspicions.

It was a knife. A short, icy, _sharp _knife.

"_You have to, Lori. Think about what'll happen if Lisa finishes her tests. You'll be exposed, babe. And not in the hot way either."_

"Please. This is… too much."

If this knife had been meant for Lily, Lori would have no such qualms or hesitation. She would march to the girl's room, drag her out by her short hair, and gleefully stab her in front of her whole family. She would even drag her out to the road and stab her in front of the whole neighborhood. That thought thrilled her. That thought made her excited.

But not what Bobby wanted her to do. That made her cold.

A dark shadow crossed Bobby's face, but it was quickly replaced by a look of sadness. He looked so sad and despondent and forlorn that it crushed Lori's heart.

"_I guess… I guess you don't love me as much as I thought you did,"_ he said. He turned away from her, his head hung.

"NO! Bobby, wait… I'll do it," she finally agreed.

He shouted with glee when she finally consented. He was so loud that Lori cringed, and hoped that no one in her family had heard him. He then wished her good luck, kissing the hands that would perform the deed, and left her. Lori was shaking with fear, but righteous indignation won her over, and she was shaking under the weight of her destined purpose.

She had to do it. Bobby demanded it.

She waited until nightfall, when almost all her siblings were asleep. She stayed at the window of the garage, watching as the lights went out one by one. Only Lisa was still awake, Lori knew. She was busy working with Leni. But Lori had a plan for her.

Lori went into the house, to the kitchen, and began brewing a nice cup of hot cocoa. When Lisa came out of her bunker and walked into the kitchen for a late night snack, there was Lori standing stiff and smiling. She handed her little sister the cup of hot chocolate, and which Lisa accepted eagerly. "This is highly appreciated, eldest sister," said the young genius.

Lori's smile was thin and forced.

"What can I say? Just trying to look out for our helpful little genius."

Lisa drank from the chocolate, and smacked her lips with satisfaction. She felt a little woozy and tired, but assumed it was just a side effect of having a warm cup to drink so late at night. Especially chocolate. Lisa had always said that… uh, what had she always said? She couldn't remember…

Lisa's head hit the table, and the youngest member of the family began to snore.

Lori sighed with relief. There was poison in that cup. Bobby had told her the right amount to knock someone out cold rather than kill, but Lori didn't know if his words could really be trusted…

_You DARE put Bobby's words into question?!_

"No, no, sorry, forgive me," she cried, ducking her head and raising her arms to fend off the imaginary attacker. When she remembered no one was there but her unconscious sister, she continued on with her mission. She poured the remainder of the drink down the drain and cleaned the cup, then put on her gloves as she slipped her knife into her pocket.

She went outside, and saw the hatch to Lisa's little bunker. She couldn't help but feel happy about what she was going to do next. _Stupid little sisters should never hide anything from their older siblings_, Lori thought as she opened the way to Lisa's underground lab. Everything that was Lisa's was Lori's by default.

She went down the ladder, and found what she wanted.

Leni.

A rabid dog is a hard sight for the soul. A rabid human is much, much worse. Leni's eyes were different. The warmth and familial, almost maternal, love that nestled in them were gone without a trace. They were a different person's now. They were scared, paranoid and angry.

Her body quaked, but she couldn't move much from the straps that kept her bound to the table. She couldn't breathe much either. Froth and foam poured out of her mouth constantly. Sometimes it was white, sometimes it was clear, but it was always disgusting.

The girl before Lori wasn't Leni. She had the same body, but not the same spirit. It was as if someone had taken out Leni's soul and… put something else in there.

A cool breath escaped Lori's mouth as she approached her sister. Leni's eyes darted towards Lori, and a muffled growl escaped through the foam. Lori's hand slipped into her pocket, and when it came back out, the knife came out with it.

She had promised herself that she would be perfect for Bobby. Whatever he wished was her command. She would anything for him… anything.

That thought steeled her for what came next.

She lifted the knife above Leni's body, dangling it high in the air. Nervous breaths escaped Lori's grit teeth, and her eyes were manic with fear. Leni looked up at the knife hanging above her like the scythe of the Grim Reaper.

For a moment, her eyes cleared.

_L-Lori?_

Then Lori plunged the knife into Leni's chest.

Leni screamed wildly. It was a cry of pure pain. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SO SORRY, LENI!" Lori screamed when she realized she missed her spot. She stabbed again, digging the blade into Leni's flesh. Now her screaming stopped, for her lungs were quickly filling with blood. Leni's body began to convulse, and the foam at her mouth reddened. A choked gurgle of a scream was all she could muster, and her head turned to look at Lori.

Their eyes met, and Lori almost cried.

And then... and then Leni stopped moving.

Forever.

Lori fell to her knees. She looked down at her shirt, and saw that there were splotches of her sister's blood. But it was okay, r-right? She had done Bobby's bidding. She had done what he ordered. A-and that was all that mattered. That was t-_totes_ all that mattered, as Leni would say.

Lori opened the hatch, comforted slightly by the fact that none of the noise from their struggle could've escaped Lisa's soundproof lab. She stepped onto the lawn to get some clean air. She took a deep lungful of cool night air…

She fought the urge to plunge the knife into her own chest.

* * *

It was the most terrible news for the Louds to awaken to. Their sick sister Leni had broken out of her straps, and was missing in the city! That's what Lori said, at least. She provided a harrowing story about how she saw Leni run around the corner, how she gave chase, how Leni had gotten away. Lisa cursed herself for sleeping on the job, and did the responsible thing: she called the police.

Lori wasn't scared, though. She had been thorough and precise in getting rid of all evidence. Her Boo Boo Bear had whispered his instructions to do so into her ear. So when the police came, they could find nothing that would suggest foul play. They did, however, find a lot to suggest gross negligence.

"You should have taken her to the hospital," scolded a dark-haired officer. The kids all hung their heads in shame.

Except for Lori. Her head was held up high with pride.

"I did it, Bobby. I did what you wanted."

The murder of Leni had a curious effect on Lori. For the first few hours, she agonized in guilt. But after spending some time to think about it - and even more time being showered with praise by her boyfriend - she felt less and less hard on herself.

Three days later, she had forgotten that she even did it.


	7. Chapter 7

The "disappearance" of Leni Loud had an immediate and strong effect on her siblings. At first, there was optimistic worrying; her brother and sisters were worried about their half-sane sister being out there all alone, but they comforted themselves with the knowledge that Royal Woods was a safe and helpful town. If anyone saw her, they would do the right thing and call the police. That thought kept them hopeful. And hope, after all, was the only thing they had to work with.

But as the investigation went on, worry turned into a gnawing, looming sense of dread. It tainted the atmosphere as much as it tainted their imaginations. The younger siblings were worried that Leni had run away for good because she didn't love them anymore, and that she would never be found. The older siblings worried that she _had_ been found. Found by people with… ill-intentions, to put it lightly.

Usually in times of trouble, when darkness descended upon the family, they could at least be comforted by a happy go-lucky member of their family who almost always wore a bright and cheerful smile. Unfortunately, that member of the family wasn't around right now. She was somewhere out there, crazed and alone…

However, there were two family members (aside from Lori) who felt a painful sense of responsibility for what had happened to her. It tore into their hearts at night as they struggled to go to sleep. _You let this happen. How could you be so stupid? _they constantly thought to themselves.

The first was Lisa. Leni was her charge, and as such, Lisa felt that it had been her duty to look after and protect the ill girl just as much as it was her mission to cure her... and she hadn't done either. It was her straps that had failed, her lack of foresight that kept her from putting a tracker or something like that on her, her poor security system that let Leni escape into the night.

And where was she during all this?

Asleep.

"I drank a cup of hot chocolate," she remarked to Lily one day, "and I lost a sister. Perhaps if I were more geared towards literature, I would find something poetic about that."

The brunette chuckled. It was a humorless chuckle.

Lily frowned, and put her hand on the scientist's shoulder. Her green sweater was dirty and crusty, because rather than take care of herself, Lisa launched her own search squad in tandem with the police's, despite their clear orders not to. It scratched Lily's palm, but she held on.

"It's okay, Lisa. No one blames you for what happened with Leni. I certainly don't blame you in the slightest."

That was true. She didn't blame Lisa.

She blamed herself.

There's a psychological phenomena known as "Survivor's Guilt". Sometimes, when a traumatic or painful event occurs, like a house catching on fire and resulting in a tragic death, one or more of the survivors might put the blame on themselves. They assure themselves it was their fault. They could've done more! They could've gone back and helped! They might've caused the fire in the first place! They didn't deserve to live because they were bad people. The other ones, though, the ones who died… they deserved to live.

That was exactly how Lily felt, though she didn't know that Leni was dead. If she had known that Fangs' rabid bite was meant for her, her Survivor's Guilt would've been far worse that it already was.

Still, based on what little she knew, Lily felt it was her fault. She had been talking to Leni before the bat's attack, so maybe if she had kept talking with her and kept her away from her room, Fangs might've flown out the window or spontaneously combusted or something. If she had only not let Leni go...

And the more she walked by the other siblings… the more she saw Lola and Lana's deeply worried frowns, the more she saw Lincoln nervously strumming his fingers, the more she saw Luna playing small ballads that ended with "_Where are you, sister Leni?_"... the more she wished that she were the one that had been infected by that bat.

Her sister, her roommate, was gone. And where was she during all that?

Having sex.

_For every yin, there is a yang, _she thought bitterly.

She looked at her pants while she sat at the kitchen table one afternoon, and frowned. These were a gift from Leni. They were the angel's touch. After what she had let happen to her older sister, she didn't deserve to wear them.

The next morning, when she woke up, she took out another pair of tattered jeans, and left Leni's gift in the closet. She would not wear them until Leni returned. And she would return. Lily had as much confidence in Leni's return as theists had in the return of their Messiah.

She walked to the bathroom, and waited patiently in line behind Lola and Luan. She then felt a familiar presence swoop in behind her, a presence that made her heart beat in her chest. She turned, and there was Lucy, standing behind her like a silent ghost.

"Hey," said Lucy.

"Hey," said Lily. There was a sad incline in her voice. Lucy picked up on it, and she frowned. Lucy was just as sad about Leni's disappearance as the rest of them, but she was also worried about Lily as well. Lily was unfairly punishing herself for something she literally had no fault in, and Lucy saw through it like she was looking through glass.

Lily was thankful for Lucy's concern. She was like the rock Lily could ground herself upon in the stormy weather of the last week. Still, she sometimes wished that Lucy would just let her be mad at herself.

Following a quick shower, Lily went downstairs to eat her breakfast and watch a little TV. No cartoons or morning shows, though. The TV was now constantly on the news, watching for any sign of Leni. Lily hoped there would be an alert of some kind about Leni, but no, the screen only showed some political pundit picking a new target to blame Hillary Clinton's 2016 loss on. "So in addition to Russian hackers, misogynist Bernie Bros, Jill Stein, Wikileaks, self-hating women, and Pepe frog memes, Hillary Clinton's defeat can also be blamed on rats chewing through the wires of electronic voting booths in Hillary-districts. Blame the mice!" he raved.

Some people put unnecessary blame on themselves. Other people put blame on literally everyone else. It was a bad pendulum, whichever way it swung.

The face of the overpaid reporter was blocked out from her vision when a pair of hands clapsed around her eyes. "Guess who?" said a deadpan, monotone voice.

Lily sighed, but she smiled, a little humored. "Is it my sexy little angel?" she teased.

"Sigh. I'd prefer to be called fallen angel."

Lucy sat by her side, and she wrapped her fingers around Lily's hand. She squeezed tightly, and when Lily turned her head to look at her, Lucy planted a kiss on the younger girl's lips. "I love you," she said.

Lily smiled.

First time she genuinely smiled in days.

* * *

"I don't know where I'm going wrong, Boo Boo Bear," Lori declared in her lonely garage room. She couldn't see Bobby, but she could feel his presence. She knew he was around when her body temperature began to fluctuate, and sweats began to break out on her face. "I did what you asked. I think I need your help."

She spun around in a circle, hoping to see where he was. The act left her dizzy, though, and she was already feeling dizzy. She felt to the ground and bumped her head painfully. She pressed her fingers into the area of her scalp around the bump, and cried out, her eyes searing with tears.

"_Get off the floor."_

She heard his voice, and she looked up to see him in all his glory. "Bobby," she exhaled his name.

"_Babe," _he said, "_I heard what you said. Yeah, I watched what you did, and I think you did a good job. But..."_

Her heart swelled when she heard him say that she did a good job for him, but her face fell when she heard the second part. "B-But?"

"_Shut up, I was getting there!" _Bobby roared, making Lori flinch. Then he calmed down, and coughed lightly into his fist. When he spoke again, his voice was more calm, more neutral, more detached. _"But I think that you'll need help with this… project of ours. Everyone needs a little help sometimes, Lori, don't feel too bad about it."_

She did feel bad though. She felt like she couldn't please Bobby on her own. "But, Boo Boo Bear, if you give me another chance, I can do this myself. You'll see."

The apparition shook his head. _"No. You'll need help with this and that's final."_

Lori grit her teeth and bared them, like an angry wolf. But she hid them behind her thin smile, and bowed her head politely. Whatever Bobby's orders were, they were absolute. And hey, he did praise her before. He thought highly of her. It's just that the task of killing Lily would be hard. That made perfect sense.

Cockroaches are notoriously hard to kill.

"So who would you have me ask for help?" she asked him. "As long as it's not Carol Pingrey, I'll do it."

Again, Bobby shook his head, though it did delight Lori to see that he had an amused smile on his face while he did. _"Not Carol. She and I haven't been talking since… that's besides the point. But no, it's someone else. Someone else who's very close to you. So close, they're one of your family members."_

"A family member? Which one?"

"_One of your sisters. A girl that hides darkness in her breast. She weaponizes it the same way a viper does; hiding and holding it before striking," _said Bobby.

"Lucy?"

"_I said _hides_ darkness, not wears it."_

"Ah, right," said Lori. She apologized for wasting Bobby's time with her incorrect answer, then thought again. Her finger tapped against her forehead as she jogged every memory she had about her family, but nothing really came up. Was it Lisa? Lisa openly admitted she had dark secrets. Or maybe it was Lynn? Maybe that whole "tough love" shtick was an act, and she was just a woman that liked to hurt people. Or was it Luna? The rocker had a temper, and was not above beating her siblings just for annoying her slightly. That seemed to imply darkness.

But it wasn't until Lori thought of Luna's roommate that the neurons in her brain clicked into place. "Luan," she realized.

Bobby nodded, a grin on his face. _"Her. Luan. The viper of the Loud House. I love her. Of course, not as much as I love you, babe. Not even close."_

Lori smiled at Bobby's reassurance, but her heart was stabbed by petty jealous. The fact that Bobby had said that he loved Luan instantly made her a target, even moreso than Lily, and the only thing that stopped her from rushing into the house and killing Luan right then and there was the fact that Bobby told her that she needed her. "So, Boo Boo Bear, please tell me why I need Luan. Enlighten me," Lori said, her eyes half-lidded and her voice dripping with murderous ecstasy.

"_Luan knows the ins and outs of your house. She knows how to build traps that target and hurt. But most importantly is that she knows hate. Your hate for Lily is like a flickering candle compared to the raging inferno she keeps in her chest."_

"Impossible!"

"_Why don't you ask her?" _Bobby suggested, his grin widening.

Then he began to fade from reality, and his eyes and wide grin were the last of him to disappear, as if he were the Cheshire Cat. A really sexy Cheshire Cat, Lori thought.

Lori couldn't help herself: she was feverish with desire after speaking to Bobby for such a long period, and the thought of getting closer to her final goal - to the man she loved - made her drop her pants and aggressively rub herself. She masturbated hard, fingers stroking and hips grinding, until she cried out and screamed with bliss.

Then she put on her pants and went inside the house. She needed to see Luan.

* * *

It occurs to me, dear reader, that we have not discussed Luan much until this point. To rectify this, we shall delve into her backstory right now. You may need some tissues on hold. A sad tragedy is waiting for you in the paragraphs below.

Luan was a girl of many things, but passion was the strongest among them. Ever since a young age, she had a burning passion for entertainment. While she worked primarily in comedy, she did other forms of entertainment as well. She acted in plays, she did impressions and costuming, and she even sang from time to time. She left the singing to Luna, though, because Luna was far better than her at it. That was okay, because she had her jokes, which she told to everyone from senior folks to children at birthday parties, and each reacted in their own way. Some people laughed, some groaned, some heckled. That was also okay. As far as Luan was concerned, people could hate her or love her, as long as they weren't ignoring her.

But as the comedienne began to grow and become a young woman, the net of her passions began to expand. Now she wasn't just interested in entertaining people. She was interested _in _people. Her sisters told her it was natural, and she was thankful for them. Three sisters that had already gone through the same process, and one sister her age that was going through it with her (though they weren't twins) made everything so much easier. But one thing they couldn't make easier was her magnetic attraction to people. That was something she dealt with alone.

How did she deal with it? She focused all her wild energies on one person. A kind, handsome, sweet young man in her drama troupe named Benny.

Benny reminded her of herself in a lot of ways, and not just because they both played with dolls. He also had a drive and passion to entertain, though it was not as pronounced as hers. What made them different was that he didn't have any higher aspirations of making it in the industry. "I keep my eyes on the stars, and my feet on the ground," he once told her. And that… fascinated her.

Her fascination quickly turned into infatuation. Her infatuation quickly turned into love.

And how does she deal with the object of her love? By pranking him, of course. Teenage love was a confusing place, and Luan always responded to confusion with a smile and a bucket of water on top of a door.

Our story with Luan proper begins with her final prank on Benny, and how badly it backfired.

The prank itself was simple enough: Luan had taken her sweet time the day before to set up and rig Benny's locker with a host of machinations that, if they worked properly, would unleash a pie to the face and a sweet little card in the shape of a heart with all the sappy romance cliches written inside. Luan was excited to see it work.

She had been careful, though. She had asked Lucy to check with Benny's little brother in her class if the older boy had any allergies, and Lucy had reported that he had none. Luan thanked her, and baked a nice blueberry pie for the occasion.

She chose blueberries for the blue scarf he often wore. The one that brought out his beautiful eyes~

And then it happened. The young Jewish teen strolled down the hallway, talking to his friend Parvana about homework or whatever. Luan was waiting nearby, back pressed against her own locker, waiting to see it happen. When Benny opened his locker, he was hit in the face with the blueberry pie, and everyone began to laugh. Luan laughed the hardest.

At least, she did until she heard Parvana scream "He's having a reaction!"

His face was starting to swell, and his hands flew to clutch his throat. Two hulking jocks from the football team were thankfully on the scene, and immediately rushed over and grabbed the boy, lifting him and hurrying him towards the nurse's office. Luan looked on in horror, and the whole hall, save for Benny's wheezes, fell silent.

Then her card fluttered to the ground.

Parvana picked it up, read it, and shot Luan the dirtiest look possible.

Luan wanted to disappear into the ground forever.

When she got home, she confronted Lucy about it with tears in her eyes. And, get this, Lucy smiled. "Ha ha. How did you like my prank?" she said.

"Your… prank?" Luan said breathlessly, before she screamed, "BENNY HAD AN ALLERGIC REACTION! HE HAD TO GO TO THE NURSE! HOW CAN YOU SAY YOU DON'T CARE?"

Lucy's face fell. "But… his brother said it was mild. I thought if he took a bite of the pie-"

"I DIDN'T MAKE IT FOR HIM TO EAT, I MADE IT TO SLAM IT IN HIS FACE! AND HE ALMOST DIED, YOU BITCH!"

Luan stormed away, her chest constricting and her eyes wet with tears. Lucy felt equally awful, and she bashed her head into the wall, angry at herself for not remembering Luan's classic pie trick, and even angrier at herself for ruining Luan's chances with the boy.

And their chances of ending up together were indeed ruined. Benny never spoke to Luan again after Parvana told him about who had poisoned him. He stayed with the drama club, perhaps hoping that she would drop out instead and let him have this one thing, but when it came time to perform _Romeo and Juliet _and she was cast as the Juliet to his Romeo, he dropped the club and never laid eyes on Luan again.

Luan fell into a deep depression. She could've lost all hope, but the only thing that kept her going was a promise she made to herself.

A promise of revenge on Lucy.

She had once, during one of her April Fool Rampages, attempted to have a chokingly-feathery pillow punch Lucy. It didn't hit, mostly because Lincoln had immediately rushed to push his older sister out of the way. But that was then. That was an unbiased April Fool's prank. What she was planning to do to Lucy needed to be pointed and precise. Like one of the sharp arrows of Robin Hood.

Luan Hood… that had a nice ring to it.

So, one random day, when Lori approached her for the idea of a rather hurtful prank, she was all ears. "Lay it on me, toots," she said with a little laugh.

Lori scowled. Did she learn that Bobby? Did Bobby call her toots? Why did Bobby love her? She didn't care if Bobby said he loved her more, he should love ONLY her. Was she not good enough? Well, of course she wasn't, no one could be good enough for Bobby, but what did Luan have that she didn't?

Luan snapped her fingers in front of Lori's eyes. "Uh, hello, Lori? Earth to Lori? You were talking about something."

"Oh? Oh, yes, right," Lori shook her head, laughing at her own silliness, "the prank we're supposed to do."

"I have to say, Lori, I'm surprised you're getting interested in the art of the prank. You're usually so by-the-books. Hard to see the Queen of No planting whoopee cushions on someone's chair."

_Maybe if they had mustard gas in them. Then I'd gladly plant one on Lily's chair._

"I… I read in a magazine somewhere that a girl should _always _look for new things to get into. It keeps her interesting."

"Smart rag," said Luan. She then clapped her hands and rubbed them together. "So, what are we going to do to Lucy?"

"Lucy?" Lori blinked in confusion.

"Yeah. You said we were going to do a real harmful prank on someone who deserved it," said Luan, her eyes dimming slightly and her mouth flipping from a playful to a straight line. "And the only person I can think of who really deserves it is Lucy."

"No," Lori shook her head. "Not Lucy. Lily."

"Lily? But why hurt Lily? She's so sweet and innocent."

_Because she took my Boo Boo Bear away from me! She deserves to fucking burn and rot in fucking Hell!_

Lori's fist shook as she suppressed those words. "It doesn't matter. It's just a prank, right?"

"Right, but a prank on the scale you're suggesting… I mean, I'd only do that to someone I really hate. Which means only Lucy or ProJared."

Lori didn't know or care who that was. She was at a complete loss. She wanted to convince her younger sister that they needed to do this to Lily, but the prankster seemed unswayable. It needed to be Lucy. So Lori put her thumb on her forehead and rubbed it in circles, as if that would magic up some perfect compromise.

Then it did.

"Oh my… Luan, have you noticed something about Lucy lately? Have you noticed that she and Lily have been… close?"

"Close?" Luan asked, before she leaned in. "Do you mean… Lynn and Lincoln close?"

Lori nodded, and Luan shook her head. "No way. That can't be true. I _incest _that you knock it off with those kind of jokes. Ha ha, geddit? But seriously, that's weird."

"I'm telling the truth, Luan," Lori sang with a confident shrug. Honestly, she was mostly going off speculation, but it really seemed possible. Lucy's cheeks seemed to glow red whenever Lily was around, and Lily seemed to garble and stammer whenever Lucy turned her back to her, and coincidentally the blonde's eyes would be glued to her swaying ass. She could imagine Lynn or Lincoln or both of them teaching Lily and Lucy that it was okay to have these degenerate feelings for each other. Fucking freaks.

"Okay, let's say it is true. If it is, then… I think I'd be willing to make this a two-for-one deal," Luan muttered evilly. "We take what you want and put it on a much higher level. Then both Lily and Lucy will be hit, and both of us will sit back and watch the fireworks. Or the waterworks. Geddit? Because Lily is a cry_baby_!"

"I… I don't get it," said Lori. "I mean, Lily was a baby once. Like, thirteen years ago."

"Oh yeah, right," said Luan. She was so proud of her insist/incest pun she forgot she was in an AU for a moment.

Still, they shook hands on it. They were going to "prank" Lily and Lucy. At least, that's what Luan thought. Lori had her own plans…

* * *

_There's someone warm next to me… I can feel their hands on my body… could it be?_

Lily awoke slowly, letting this mystery person keep their hands on her. She felt someone pressed against her naked body, and judging from the way their tits cut into her back, they were naked as well. Of course, Lily had just woken up, and associating this room with Leni, she spun her head around with an excited smile. "Leni-" she said, before she stopped. She wasn't disappointed to see it was Lucy, hugging her tight after their rough night, but she did feel a drop in her heart.

She really missed Leni.

Her thoughts quickly transitioned to something more pleasant; last night. It was the second time Lucy and Lily had consummated their relationship. And by consummated, I mean Lily fingered Lucy like she was a musical instrument.

She kissed her sister's nose, and watched as Lucy began to stir. "Good morning, sleepyhead," Lily giggled lightly.

"Why does morning have to come so fast?" was Lucy's grumbled answer. Lily thought of the perfect response, but she was too classy for it.

"Because the morning knows we have a big day ahead of us."

Lily was the dictionary definition of a morning person. When she woke up, she was ready for the day. Even years into the future, she would be the same. One of those select adults that never touched morning joe. Lucy was the opposite. She rolled over, and Lily had to pat her shoulder until she finally agreed to get up.

Lily stuffed her right leg into her jeans when looked over at Lucy and saw, much to her surprise, that Lucy wasn't putting on her usual dress. "Um, Lucy, what gives?" she asked the goth as Lucy covered her panties with a pair of black shorts. "Where's your dress?"

"Oh, that. I decided to put on something else for once. Something that I hope you'll l-like."

Lily watched her interestedly. Lucy put on a white T-shirt… no wait, it wasn't completely white. It was a My Chemical Romance shirt. A really tight one too. Lucy's breasts were small-to-medium, but the shirt really accentuated them. They looked… hypnotizing...

Lucy blushed when she saw Lily's staring eyes. "So… what do you think of my new look?" she asked.

Lily would've pounced on her right there and then had it not been for Lynn sticking her head in the room and asked if anyone had seen Lincoln. They said they didn't, so she moved on. But the moment was ruined. Sigh.

"Shall we attend breakfast together, m'lady?" Lily said all ladylike. If Lucy was going to try something new for her, she thought it best to return the favor by talking like a character from Lucy's Victorian books. She extended her arm, and Lucy hooked her own arm around it. Their flesh rubbed together.

"We shall."

"Cool," said Lily, spoiling the regality.

They walked together to the stairs, where they noticed a long line of rope which stretched into the downstairs. "Watch your step," Lucy cautioned, and pursed her lips. _Who would need a rope like this? Is someone hanging themselves? No, Lucy, not everyone is as morbid as you. It might be Lana working on a new project. Yes. That makes sense…_

The rope was not Lana's new project, though. At the foot of the stairs, hidden away slightly, Lori and Luan waited for the two of them. Luan was hunched over while Lori sat on top of her. Her chin was pressing into Luan's brown hair, and Luan could Lori's chest heaving and pushing into her back. Luan felt a flash of jealous as she felt Lori's robust size, comparing it to her own small breasts, but she dismissed the thought quickly. She was too focused on their mission.

When Lucy and Lily appeared, Luan and Lori looked at them in the new light that they were… _together_. Things began to click into place. The red blushes spread on Lily's face and neck, the nervousness and care with which Lucy walked. At this point, Lilcy was basically confirmed. And Luan hated it.

_How come _she _gets to find someone and be happy with them while I lose mine? It's not fair!_

Whatever. Her prank would make her feel better.

Lincoln strolled by and noticed them, but just shrugged and went into the kitchen for breakfast. "Waffles, waffles, waffles," he sang to himself.

"Hey Luan, I think I need to go use the bathroom," said Lori, tapping her sister's shoulder and getting up. She stretched her arms and let out a sigh. "I think I can leave the rest of this up to you, right?"

Luan nodded and Lori left. The blonde's smirk was downright shark-like.

Lucy and Lily finally got to the bottom of the stairs, ignoring the squatting Luan ("What is she doing?" "Maybe she's gotten into exercise. You need to run fast when you do pranks after all.") as they headed towards the kitchen.

Time slowed. With every step they took, Luan's grip got tighter on her rope. Her grin was wide, and her eyes trained on Lucy like a carnivorous predator. _It's finally time for some payback, Luce. You got Benny to dump me, so I'm going to _dump _on you. Ha ha. Geddit? Oh wait, this is my brain. No one can hear me but me… and maybe Mister Coconuts._

As Lucy got riiiiiight next to the door, Luan's knuckles whitened, so tight was her grasp. This was it!

She tugged on the rope.

On top of Lucy and Lily's heads, and indeed on top of the kitchen door, was a well-hidden trap door. When it opened, it would pour two buckets on their sisters heads. Lori never told what Luan what she going to put in the buckets, insisting that she leave it up to her. Whatever it was, Luan assumed it would be hilarious. So when she tugged on her line of rope, the ceiling opened up and dropped buckets like they were nuclear bombs.

Unfortunately for her, Lincoln had taken notice. When he saw her pull on the rope out of the corner of his eye, he turned his head quickly and saw the impending doom. "Lucy! Lily!" he cried out as he rushed and jumped. He pushed the two of them back, and the buckets fell to the ground, spilling their contents on the carpet… and on Lincoln's arm.

Then Lincoln did something Luan didn't expect.

He screamed.

"OWWWWWW!" he cried out as he clutched his arm. Lucy quickly got down on her knees besides her younger brother, and lifted his hand off the point of contact. To everyone's, even Luan's, horror, the area was blistering.

"Acid..." Lucy said with a horrified start.

"A-Acid?" Luan repeated. She didn't know Lori put acid in there! She thought it would just be paint or, at most, tar!

Then Lucy, Lily and Lincoln looked at her, remembering she was there. They saw the rope in her hand, and looked up to see where the rope was attached. Lucy's head swiveled to the empty buckets, lying forlorn on the floor, and she quickly put two and two together.

The look she shot Luan could've curdled milk.

* * *

"You could've really hurt someone!" Luna chastised. "You might've even killed someone!"

They were in her room now. Everyone was mad at her for what she did to Lincoln, and what she had been meaning to do to Lucy and Lily. They had tolerated a lot from her. Buzzers, bugs, and a whole host of other pranks that bordered on deadly. But _acid? _That was crossing the line, and it took three sisters to hold back Lynn when she learned what Luan had done to Lincoln.

And the whole time, Luan tried to defend herself. She tried to call on Lori, but Lori was, mysteriously, nowhere to be found.

"I didn't mean to. It was supposed to be a dumb prank!"

"A prank that uses acid? Nuh uh. That's way too far, dude."

Luan opened her mouth to say that the bleach wasn't her idea, but Luna spun around in anger. "I can't talk to you right now," the rocker grumbled.

"Luna-"

"No. No Luna anything. Just… just sit here and think about what you did," she ordered like a kindergarten teacher. "I have half a mind to call Mom and Pop about what you did, but they're already worried sick enough about Leni. I don't need to give them another kid to worry about."

Before another word could be exchanged, Luna threw up her hands in the air, groaned angrily, and stormed out of the room. She slammed the door behind her for emphasis. That made Luan a little mad. You're going to act like a petty little girl and slam the doors when you haven't even let me explain myself? Get bent.

Then Luan sighed. It wasn't Luna she was mad at. She would apologize to her roommate later. And she would really have to apologize to Lincoln. Maybe even Lucy and Lily, despite the idea giving her no joy at all. She wasn't mad at any of them. No, there were only two people she was mad at. The first was sitting in her spot, and the other had gone to the bathroom and vanished into fucking Narnia while Luan took the fall for everything.

A shadow appeared in her doorway. Luan looked up.

It was Lori, back from slaying the White Witch.

"Guess you got in a lot of trouble?"

Her tone was mocking. She could clearly see she was in trouble.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" demanded Luan, her fists balling. "You put acid in the buckets? What the fuck?"

Lori lost her self-assured confidence, and instead looked at her with confusion. "I thought you wanted to get back at Lucy. To 'prank' her," Lori said. She made air quotes when she said 'prank'.

"I wanted to prank her. I wanted to hurt her, maybe. But I didn't want to fucking scar or kill her!"

"Language."

"Fuck you."

Lori's scowl was aggressive, but Luan couldn't care less. She had left her high and dry. And that was the best thing she could've left her as. Luan shuddered when she thought of what would've happened if the acid prank had been successful. They could've been blinded, burned, scarred, deformed or dead. She may have been mad at Lucy, but she didn't want to see the goth dead!

"I think… I think we need to cool down," said Lori calmly. Her tensed-up shoulders began to lower, and her face was less twisted by anger.

"I think what you need to do is answer some of my questions."

"You're absolutely right about that. I do need to answer some of your questions. After all, if this _partnership _is to work, we need to be on the same page. But later. I need to figure some things out first."

Lori turned courtly, and just when Luan wondered if Lori was going to say anything else to her, she left. Luan groaned and threw herself on her bed. Her arms were stretched, and she could feel her fingers scraping against something wooden. She glanced over, and saw it was her doll. "Got nothing better to do," she said. She slipped the doll on and raised him above her face.

"Seems like you got yourself way over your head, toots," said Mister Coconuts. Well, Luan said it, but you get what I mean.

"Yeah. You believe me, though, right? I didn't mean to pour acid on Lucy. I mean, it would help her _lighten _up a bit, but still!"

"I believe you, girly. But still, this is a dangerous game you're playing, Luan."

"What do you mean, Mister Coconuts?"

"Haven't you noticed that there's something a little off about Lori?"

"Um, yeah. She tried to kill our younger sisters. And Lincoln got really hurt trying to protect them."

"That's what I mean. You want my advice? _Stay away from Lori._"

Luan knew Mister Coconuts was right. But that didn't stop her from meeting up with Lori later that night. Yeah, yeah, she knew there were so many red flags getting set off, but she had her reasons. The first was that she wanted to unload all her rightful indignation on Lori. The second was… well, she still wanted to get back at Lucy. Not kill her, of course. She would make it clear with Lori that she didn't want anything permanent to happen to Lucy. Just something to hurt and embarrass her the way Lucy had hurt and embarrassed her in front of Benny.

But why did Lori want to talk to her so late at night anyways? Luan reread the text, wondering if she mistook Lori's message for eleven o'clock in the morning, but no, there was a series of molester moon emojis right besides the time stamp. Lucky her. When she finally found Lori, the eldest sister was sitting stiffly at the end of the dining room table, her hands crossed and planted firmly on the table. The room was dark, lit only by a few whitish candles that Lori had taken out of storage. It made for an uncomfortable atmosphere, only made way worse by the way Lori silently stared at Luan without a hint of a smile or frown on her face. Lori's face seemed so… _mask-like. _

Luan shivered.

"Why aren't the lights on?" she asked. She reached for the light switch and flicked it on, bright light flooding her eyes for the first time in an hour. She had to close them momentarily, but when she reopened them, she looked back at Lori and found that the blonde hadn't even flinched.

It was really, really creepy.

"Sit down, Luan," Lori said. Luan sat, and Lori tossed her something. It landed in her cupped hand, and Luan looked down at it. It was a large red apple, and it looked really crisp and juicy. The way the lights reflected on it, giving it the illusion of shining…

Luan's stomach growled, so she took a bite. Lori's face twisted into a sick smile when she did.

"Does it taste good?"

Luan nodded. "I'm glad," said Lori. Then the blonde uncrossed her fingers and put her hands on the table, pressing her manicured fingernails on the surface. "Alright, I'm sure you've come here with a lot of questions and whatnot, so let me put everything to rest; I don't want to prank Lily. I'm not a fucking little immature prankster like you. I want to _hurt_ Lily, Luan. I want to _kill _Lily," she snarled, making Luan gasp and stand up. "And the best part is, Lu," she continued with an evil grin, "is that you're going to help me."

"Lori, if this is a joke, then… then it's not funny..."

"It's no joke. You're going to help me get rid of Lily and Lucy, or else..."

"Or else what?" demanded Luan. Her knees were quivering at this point, and her mind was flooded with disbelief and fear, but she was proud to find her voice was still brave.

Lori lifted an eyebrow, and took out a small knife. Luan shuddered, wondering if Lori was going to use it on her, when the blonde barked out a harsh laugh. "This isn't for you. This is for me," she said, pressing the knife against her fingernail to dig some of the dirt out from underneath. "But if you have to know what'll happen if you don't help me, then look over to your right."

Luan did, and she saw a small empty vial.

"You see that? That's a poison I stole from Lisa's lab," Lori explained, her voice robotic and disinterested. "And do you know what I did with it, sister dearest?"

Luan shook her head, so Lori told her, in a voice just as monotone, "I used to make sure your apple looked good."

"Y-You what?" Luan squeaked.

"Your apple. The one I just gave you. Why do you think it was so shiny?"

Luan's eyes widened, and Lori stood up, putting the knife down on the table. She lazily strolled over to Luan, and ran her fingers through her brunette hair. Luan was shivering, unable to say a word. She looked back to the apple in her hands, and she could practically see it decomposing before her eyes. She cried out and dropped it on the floor.

Lori shook her head. "What a waste of food. You know there are children starving in Africa, right?"

Luan looked back up to Lori, her eyes welling with tears. Lori's face read of apathy.

The young woman then leaned in to speak into the teenager's ear. "Do you want me to get this poison out of you?"

Luan still couldn't speak. Her words died in her tight, burning throat. All she could do was nod.

"Then you'll help me kill Lily. And, as a bonus, I'll also work on killing her cunt girlfriend. All you need to do is whatever I say. Oh, and don't try getting help. I swiped Lisa's antidote, and she won't be able to make a new one for a few days."

That was a lie. But Luan didn't know that.

"And there is one last thing~" Lori sang.

Lori carefully cupped her palm around the back of Luan's head. She smiled softly… then slammed her sister's face into the table with all the force she could muster.

Luan cried out and felt her nose break instantaneously. She could feel the blood pouring out when Lori lifted her off the table.

"_Stay the fuck away from my Bobby!_" she screamed into her ear.


	8. Chapter 8

**This chapter isn't really in flow with the rest of the story. It's more like an anachronic series of events that occur both during and after the last chapter, delivered in short segments. Some focus on the main plot, some focus on side characters that haven't been given enough time so far, and the last one delivers on some of the Lilcy fluff I promised myself I'd write. **

**And now for some responses:**

**anonymous789: I love that Coyote and Roadrunner analogy, first of all XD. But to answer your question about Bobby and Luan... actually, I'll answer it in the last chapter. I'll make a note to remind myself.**

**NoSoul01: Though I don't really focus on it, I have thought about how tragic Lisa's place in this story is. She has the means to help, but is helpless because she has no idea what's really going. And then there's the fact that Lori is using her materials and experiments to wreak havoc... it sucks :(**

* * *

"I'll kill her," growled Lynn.

"Don't," said Lincoln.

The last few hours weren't kind to him. He was currently laying on Lynn's bed, a pillow propped up on the bed frame to support his head and back, while another pillow was placed beneath his injured arm. The pillow may have been soft, but the acid had corroded his skin enough to make even the softest touches painful. It was wrapped up, somewhat uselessly, in a bandage, and that hurt a lot too. Thankfully, Lincoln wasn't one to complain a lot. At least, not in front of his sisters. Behind their backs, though, he could whine up a storm…

Of course, what helped keep from him complaining too much was the simple fact that he knew that he had been lucky. All he got was a little acid on his arm. It wasn't even the kind that burned all the way down to the bone like in his comic books.

Now... if it had touched his face…

He shivered, and Lynn patted his hand. The sporty girl had drawn up a stool to sit by her brother's side. She didn't want to be there - she would much rather be with Luan, getting as physical as she could with her. But Lincoln insisted to her that, no matter what, she wasn't to do that. It was just a prank gone wrong, nothing to hospitalize someone over. Lynn relented eventually, and Lincoln flashed her a thankful smile that killed any remaining desire she had to leave his side.

_Even after all these years, after we've done nearly every dirty thing two people can do to each other, all it takes is a smile from him to get my heart beating, _Lynn thought.

The door opened, and the two siblings looked up to see Lucy and Lily walk in, their faces in turmoil. "Hey guys," Lincoln said weakly, sitting up straight. "Come to visit the wounded?"

"That, and we came to thank you and apologize."

"For what?"

"What do you mean 'for what'?" Lily said, her voice raising a little. "You know damn well what. We want to thank you for saving us from Luan's prank. And we want to say sorry for getting you injured. It should've been us under those buckets, not you."

"I'll accept your thanks, but not your apologies. Like, do you think I'm angry at you two? Yeah, I'm really angry. How dare you guys have Luan try a prank out on you, and how dare you two use telekinesis to throw me under the bucket," Lincoln said, rolling his eyes. "Don't be sorry for anything. I'm just doing what a good brother should."

"But you're my younger brother," said Lucy. "You're not supposed to fling yourself into danger for me. I'm supposed to protect you."

"Are you guys really complaining that you didn't get an acid bath?"

Lily and Lucy both fell silent, and Lincoln couldn't help but smile victoriously and let out a light chuckle. "Seriously, you two. You're welcome for the save, but you don't need to be sorry about anything. I'm not even mad at Luan, why would I be mad at you guys?"

"You're not mad at Luan?" Lily asked.

Lynn let out a hostile grunt. "I am."

"I'm not. She didn't mean to get me injured."

"No, she didn't. She meant it for us," Lucy said with a scowl.

An uncomfortable silence hung over their heads as they contemplated Luan. A thought occurred to all of them, but none of them said it out loud due to how silly it seemed. But what they thought about was how the prank that Luan attempted earlier today had been so… unlike her. It wasn't like her to do a prank that could potentially lead to loss of life or serious, permanent injury. She may have dabbled in that on a few April Fools' Days in the past, but this was something on another level. It didn't seem right for a girl whose modus operandi was tossing around pies like a black and white cartoon clown to try something so dangerous. Which begged the question… _why?_

They all reached the same conclusion, but they dismissed it by shaking their heads. It seemed so ludicrous, but... what if the idea wasn't Luan's own? What if it was someone else's?

When Lily reached that conclusion, an image of Lori suddenly flashed in her mind.

"No, couldn't be," she whispered. She knew Lori didn't like her for whatever reason, but not enough to… harm her. Right? Lori would have to hate her really hard, and Lily would remember if she did something to Lori that would cause her to hate her to that degree. Lily hadn't done that much to Lori. She once stole a bottle of her nail polish, and there was that whole thing with Bobby, but nothing too extreme. Right?

"Couldn't be what?" asked Lucy. Lily looked up at her older sister, and was instantly comforted by her presence. Lori's icy presence in her mind was swept away, replaced by softer and warmer thoughts of Lucy. The way her smooth skin brightened and flushed when she was embarrassed or excited, the way her hips swayed and her butt rocked when she walked, the way her new wardrobe clung to her tightly, revealing hints of skin when she was lucky…

Lily had heard that in time of danger and fear, arousal increases. It was something about ensuring the survival of the species. So Lily realized that if she was getting riled up here and now of all places, she must've, on some level, felt like she was in danger.

But not when Lucy was around. Lucy would protect her.

"Nothing. It's not important," Lily told her, draping herself around Lucy's arm and clinging to it like a koala clinging to a protective black bear. Lincoln took notice, and his eyes twinkled. For a moment, he was able to forget the pain in his arm.

"So… I guess the Loud House has a new star-crossed couple," he said with an ever-widening grin.

The girls broke apart, and Lily hugged herself, as if to prove that her hands belonged to no one else. "Wh-what are you talking about? D-Did the acid hit your brain too?"

"Relax, Lynn told me everything about you two."

The blonde and the black-haired girl shot deathly looks at the brunette, and she shrugged. "What? You wanted to keep it a secret? It's the twenty-first century, girls are allowed to like girls."

"You know, I sometimes forget that you two forgot that what's going on between _us,_" Lily pointed at both herself and Lucy, "isn't normal, and is a little embarrassing to talk about in front of our older brother and sister."

"Alright, I get it. I get it. You don't want me or Captain Red Boxers over here to know about how you think all the time about Lucy's hair and how it tickles you when you two hug..."

Lily let out a startled cry and hid her face.

"…and you, Lucy, don't want us to know about how you're constantly fantasizing about Lily's full lips and how you just want to kiss her and French her all the time..."

Lucy wasn't as dramatic in her reaction as Lily, preferring to just blush.

"… I get it. Which is why we'll stop talking about it," finished Lynn with a beaming smile.

"Bit too late there, don't you think?" Lincoln sighed. His arm was starting to throb again, and he was really wishing, more than anything, that all the girls would leave and let him read his comics in peace.

* * *

Pause for a moment, and think about this: you, the person reading this right now, are dying.

Seems like something we should all think about more, right? The fact that one day, our light will be extinguished. Our ideas about what happens afterwards differ. Reincarnation, the afterlife, becoming ghosts, nothing. Whatever you believe, it doesn't change the fact that you are dying. It may seem like something that'll happen some faraway time from now, and hopefully it will be a long time away from you, dear reader, but it may not be. It may be next week. It may be tomorrow. It may be a few minutes from now. And it can be brought on by anything.

Like, for example, someone offering you an apple and leaving out the important fact that said apple was glazed with poison the same way donuts are glazed with sugar.

Maybe now you can understand Luan Loud's emotional state, as she thought about how her death was going to occur in a matter of days. Maybe now you can feel the cold dread, the looming fear, the sensation that every breath of air was a miracle to be thankful for.

Hours after that meeting between Lynn, Lucy, Lincoln, and Lily, Luan was sitting at the kitchen table, alone, hurt, and more afraid than she had ever been in her whole life. Her nose was crushed and bleeding, but there was something so much more important going on. She knew that there was poison flowing through her veins. She could feel it burning and cutting at her insides. It terrified her, but she had to fight hard to keep her heart from beating. If the poison was in her system, an increased heartbeat would be the last thing she wanted. It would just pump the venomous death through her body much faster.

Luan knew she wouldn't last long, regardless of her heartbeat, but it gave her something to focus on besides her impending doom.

Lori didn't tell her how long she would live without the antidote, so Luan did some mental math. It was a somewhat pointless exercise, but it was meant to be a useful distraction.

Even when staring the Angel of Death in the eyes, people must distract themselves.

She figured it wouldn't kill her too quickly, as Lori needed her help in setting up another death trap or something. She also knew it wouldn't be that much later, as it would give Luan time to talk to Lisa or someone else. If anything, part of Lori's genius was not telling Luan her deadline. It made making plans much harder for a panicked and pain girl.

"What's wrong with her?" Luan said, the words slightly impeded by her broken nose.

But indeed, what was wrong with her? That look she had seen in Lori's eyes was not of this world. It seemed demented, and Luan had no doubts in her mind that Lori was _literally _insane. Who else would want their sisters dead? Who else would poison someone into helping them do it?

No one. Absolutely fucking no one. Except for insane people. Maybe not even them. The mentally ill usually were the victims of violence, not the attackers. Which meant Lori was more insane than the insane.

Her heart skipped a beat, despite Luan willing it not to.

"Please… this can't be happening, this can't be happening..."

She could feel the tears starting in her eyes, and she choked them back. She didn't want to cry. It wasn't going to help unless her tears were elixir rather than saltwater. She wanted a way out. She… she didn't want to die.

She thought about Benny. She wanted him so badly in that moment that she fell to the floor with aching in her chest. She had such plans for their life together. She wanted to date him, then marry him, then grow old with him and die with him as they were surrounded by their many children and their many more grandchildren. The image of a wrinkled, graying Luan hung before her eyes, like a cruel taunt from the universe. _You want this? You want to grow old with him? Well you can't have that! You can't have him, and you're going to die anyways!_

Her plans, her dreams, everything… it was all a joke. A cruel, cruel joke. She knew a thing or two about cruel jokes. She had played one earlier, after all.

Maybe this was just punishment. Maybe this was her karma for trying to hurt Lily and Lucy, for succeeding in hurting Lincoln. Maybe this was a sign that her grudge against Lucy was killing her from the inside.

A metaphor made literal... there was some humor in that… if she could just find it.

She pressed her cheek to the ground, and a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a chuckle came out of her gaping mouth. She wet her lips with her tongue, and thought about what Lori might be doing.

Then she started to cry.

* * *

"Do you have to be practicing right now?"

Sometime between Luan's breakdown and the meeting in Lynn's room, Lola and Lana were starting to get on each other's nerves. Lola was spinning her baton, preparing for another pageant where the judges demanded more talent be displayed. At least, she was doing that until her twin popped that question. Lola scowled, stopping the music, then looked over at Lana. The older twin was sitting on her bed, rubbing El Diablo's head as if he were a cat rather than a scaly and disgusting snake.

"You should be thankful, you know. Some people pay to get the privilege of watching me perform," said Lola snootily, throwing up her nose. "But then again, what would you know? You can't appreciate talent unless it's some dog show where someone tells their dog to roll over in their own pee."

"Dogs don't roll over in pee at dog shows. They do it elsewhere. They got dignity, unlike some people." Lana glowered.

"Honey, don't start something you're not willing to finish."

The two glared at each other for a few minutes, and Lana ended up being the one to back down. She rubbed the side of her own head, like she were relieving a headache. "Sorry about that Lols," she apologized in a soft voice. "It's this damn house. It's been feeling so… I don't know..."

Lola's glare softened. She knew what Lana meant. She could feel it as well. It felt like… well, nothing bad was happening yet, except for that accident with Linky earlier, but it felt like there were things to come that would be so much worse.

The calm before the storm. That's what it was called.

It's said that in the calm before the storm, animals get all jittery and fidgety, almost as if they were trying to warn the humans around them of what was coming. Lana noticed it in her pets, and Lola noticed it in Lana.

"What do you think is happening?" Lola asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, everyone seems so tense and weird lately. What do you think they're doing? Do you think maybe they're planning a surprise party?"

"Would be hard to celebrate a party with Leni missing," Lana noted.

Oh right... Leni. Lola had forgotten that Leni was still missing. In her defense, it was mostly because she tried to block it out of her mind. Leni was the one who taught her how to wear stylish clothes and how to put polish on her fingernails and toes. The disappearance of the older girl had a profound effect on Lola's psyche, which she tried to block out by not thinking about it. Just not thinking about it.

It was hard not thinking about it when she was alone at night, though.

"Still, there must be something happening. Leni got bit, Linky got hurt earlier, everyone else seems so tense and annoyed..."

"Don't forget about Lily and Lucy."

"What about Lily and Lucy?"

"You mean you haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

Lana considered telling her, but then thought better of it. It was better that Lola kept some of her innocence. Lola liked to consider Lana more inexperienced with people than her, but Lana could pick up on things that people couldn't. Physical things. The human mind might be special and spiritual and that junk, but the human body is as animal as they come. And Lana had seen enough animal behavior to tell when two people were in love.

She had also seen enough animal siblings doing it to recognize when she saw it as well.

_First Lynn and Lincoln, now Lily and Lucy… I wonder if…_

Lana looked at Lola, but not how she always looked at her. She tried to really _really_ look at her. Lola was, by all standards, a beautiful girl. She kept her golden hair combed, her powdered face unblemished, her smooth pink dresses untainted by bruise or dirt. She wore fashionable clothes and make-up that complimented her looks. She was a girly-girl, as much as Lana was a tomboy. So if they got together, it might've made sense...

"Um, Lana, why are you staring at me?"

Lana shook her head. "What's it to you? I thought you liked being looked at," she said.

_Eh, I'll leave questions like that for when I get older._

* * *

While Lola and Lana were having their small argument, another argument was occurring way across town. It was, as fate would have it, also an argument centered around the high tensions of the Loud House.

"I just don't know if now's a good time for you to drop by the old crib," Luna said to someone who was digging around in a trunk in the garage, looking for something. Luna's eyes were stuck on the cleft of the person's butt cheeks, visible through their tight jeans, as she continued with, "Things have been kinda weird, so I don't wanna make you uncomfortable."

"Don't worry about that," said Sam Sharp as she looked up from the trunk. Her elfin face had a sweet smile on it, touched by Luna's concerned. Sam stood up, her blonde hair swishing from side to side like a hypnotic pendulum. Luna couldn't tear her eyes away from her. Not that she wanted to. Sam's glowing beauty was something for the ages.

"But I do want to worry about that, luv," said Luna.

"Luna, really, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Sam, did you notice that literally no one called me today? It's a mess over there," Luna told her as she pulled out her phone, revealing no missed calls on the screen. Luna had spent the night over at the Sharp residence, where she and Sam stayed up all night and watched educational programs on PBS before giving each other platonic kisses and…

Jk. They fucked. They fucked hard.

So when Luna woke up that morning, finding herself in Sam's bed, staring at the blonde's perfect soft face and her long, luscious eyelashes, she wondered if anyone had even noticed she was gone. She checked her phone to discover that they hadn't, which was a little disappointing. She would understand if they were busy with something important (say, someone having their skin burned off) but she would be lying if she said she weren't at least a little hurt.

"They're probably busy with… something or another," Sam waved her hand dismissively.

Luna sighed. "Is there nothing I can say that'll get you to come over?"

Sam narrowed her eyes. "Are you hiding something from me? Do you have a sexy Latina maid that you cheat on me with? Is one of your sisters homophobic? Are… are you all superheroes using your house as a secret base?"

"No, I wish, I don't think so, and you're a dork," Luna answered all her questions.

Sam seemed satisfied with the answers, given how she smiled brightly after that. "Well then, there's no reason why I shouldn't come over. Come on, it'll be fun. We can use your music room, I can catch up with Lily and guide her on the musical journey you started her on."

"No way, Sam. I don't want you teaching her your music. You'll probably have her listening to something like _Switchfoot_," Luna said, gagging on the band's name.

"Screw you, Switchfoot is good."

"No they're not."

"Yes they are."

"No. They're. _Not!_"

Sam and Luna stared at each other for a few seconds, before Sam reached to press the button that closed the garage door. For a little while after that, the garage would be filled with the sound of flesh smacking, lips kissing, and sweet, sweet music being made.

* * *

In another garage, at the crown of the next day, Lori Loud was fitfully struggling in her sleep. She hadn't had a good night's sleep in so long. Not ever since Bobby had taken from her.

_They_ had done it. _They_ had taken Bobby from her. And _They_ was all of them. The lizard people, the Jews, the Illuminati, the ghost of Joseph Stalin... all of them! It was a conspiracy that stretched from Washington to Tokyo to the Vatican to Royal Woods.

And somewhere in the cogs of that evil machine was Lily.

Maybe _They_ were also keeping Lori awake. Maybe _They _were pumping her system with drugs to keep her from sleeping, so _They_ could torment her even more.

She thought about what she had just done about an hour ago. She had poisoned her younger sister, as if she were a wicked stepmom from a Disney movie, and then, if that wasn't enough, she had slammed her sister's head into the table. Lori had forgotten if she had only done it once or if she had done it multiple times, but it didn't really matter. The end result was all the same: Luan's bloody face flashing before her eyes.

"Was it really worth it?" Lori found her lips saying.

She shivered, and her loins felt hot. It wasn't Luan's face that gave her that pleasure. Lori wasn't a sadist who got off on causing pain, after all. No, what peaked her was her wondering how Bobby would feel about that. Now, and only now, had she proved her absolute loyalty to Bobby. She was pretty sure she had done that before, but she couldn't remember how. Her mind was too clouded for something like that.

Just as his name formed on her lips ("Oh, Bobby") she heard something at the door.

She looked up, and there was Charles the dog. He sat at the foot of the door, staring at her with wide canine eyes.

"Go away," she hissed.

The dog blinked… and then he chuckled.

"_Is that really how you talk to your favorite delivery boy?"_

Lori gasped, and immediately went over to Charles.

"Bobby! I'm… I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize you!"

The dog chuckled again. "_Don't worry about it, babe. Just, uh, pay more attention next time, alright? I can't have you acting all dumb like that."_

"Of course, Bobby. You'd never love a dumb girl."

"_That's right. But I suppose I need to throw in my brains every once in a while… especially when my girl fails to kill Lily twice."_

Lori's head hung with shame.

"_Don't worry about it Lori. I got the perfect plan. This won't fail, believe me."_

"You got a plan?"

"_Yep. Listen, this is a good one..."_

Lori cupped her ear and brought it to the dog's mouth. He didn't say his plan at first, because he thought it would be so much more fun to take his rough doggo tongue and run it along Lori's cheek in an affectionate kiss. Lori giggled sweetly, and the dog began to whisper the plot into Lori's ear. She grinned when she heard it, and when she pictured it in her mind, she knew it was a good one.

* * *

Our final segment focuses on Lily and her troubled mind.

She kept shifting in bed as demons howled in her mind. She knew she should've been asleep right now, and she didn't want to disturb Lucy, so she tried to keep her movements subtle…

"Lily, what are you doing?"

Lily shook her head. "Sorry, Lucy, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Sigh. I'm still waiting for the day that you'll wake me up by biting on my neck."

"I'm not a vampire."

"You're the closest thing I have to one, though."

That might sound strange, but Lucy considered the vampire to be the perfect person. The perfect lover as well. So her describing Lily as such was just endearing pet talk.

Lucy flashed Lily one of her rare warm smiles, but it faded when she realized how uncomfortable Lily looked. "Are you okay?" Lucy asked. "Do you need to talk about something?"

"I do. But I can't get the words out."

"You can try a song."

Lily shook her head. "Not a song either. Just… can you do something for me, Lucy?"

Lucy nodded, and Lily took that as her cue to back up into the goth's loving embrace. She wrapped herself in the dark robes of her older sister, and had Lucy put her arms around her body. "Can you hold me?" Lily asked.

Lucy's arms tightened around Lily, like she was gripping her favorite teddy bear.

"I won't let go."

Lily smiled, and kissed Lucy. "I love you."

"I love you more."

Lily didn't turn over for the rest of the night.


	9. Chapter 9

Having not slept a wink all night, Luan had the privilege of using the bathroom first. Sauntering lifelessly through the house, swaying from side to side with the dull expression of a zombie, she wasn't aware of where she was until she hit the wall of the restroom. She pulled her skirt and panties down and sat on the toilet, and clasped her hands together as she urinated. Her eyes were bloodshot and bleary, and her face wilted. Luan was always one to smile, but now she couldn't find it, and her face seemed wrinkled and empty without it.

She thought about the poison running through her veins, and panic clutched her once again. This time, though, she refused to let herself cry. She was Luan Loud, and Luan Loud didn't go to the bathroom to cry. Luan Loud found solutions.

But what solution was there to being poisoned by your psychotic older sister?

"M-Mom," Luan croaked like a frightened little girl. Her parents had wanted to be with their children ever since Leni left, but the stormy weather kept them from taking a plane, much to their anguish. She had heard Luna talking with her mother over the phone as Rita insisted to her children that they stay safe, keep an eye out for their sister, and wait for them. But now, Luan couldn't wait for them. She had hope, thin and fragile as it was, that maybe when her parents got home, they would save her. They would find a way to flush the death from her system. Maybe, just maybe…

Luan would've thought about it more, but she heard a sharp knock at the door. She flinched, her shot nerves sparking, and it took everything in her power to keep from crying out. She bit down on her lip, wiped the tears forming on her eyelashes like dew on the grass, and got up.

When she opened the door, she barely felt any surprise when she saw it was Lori, towering over her like a beautiful yet twisted parody of Goliath. What did surprise her was Lori's face: there was a happy smile, without any hint of the malice Luan felt and saw in the kitchen. Her eyes seemed fluttery, and her cheeks were pink. Lori looked less like a killer and more like a flighty high school girl in deep, deep love.

Luan hadn't seen that expression on her since Bobby.

"Good morning, sister," Lori chirped like one of Cinderella's happy birds. She wrapped her surprised sister up in a warm hug, which Luan didn't return. When Lori let go of the comedienne, she put up her pointer finger like a scolding nanny. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You know, it's important to hug your family members. Especially when it's someone literally as close to you as me."

"You're not close to me," Luan said. Lucy's voice had more emotion in it than hers did at that moment.

"Seems like someone got off on the wrong side of the_ bed~_ today," Lori sang. Luan didn't know what was wrong with her, but her happy side scared her more than her angry, wrathful side.

"I didn't sleep at all. Because of you."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Lori, "but as much as I'd love to sit around and chitchat, I'm afraid we have business to take care of. Important business. You see, last night, I was visited by angel who told me what we were supposed to do to take care of our… two problems. I think you know who I'm talking about."

When Luan showed she had no idea, Lori rolled her eyes and dropped the musical voice. "Bobby. I'm talking about Bobby. He came to me last night, and he k-kissed me, and then he told me what we needed to do."

"Bobby?" Luan seemed actually scared now. "Lori, you know that Bobby's-"

"...Amazing, wonderful, intelligent, cunning, sneaky, helpful, wise, handsome, kind, devoted, worthy of worship, crafty, and the greatest man to ever grace this miserable rock we call Earth… Yeah, of course I know that."

Luan didn't want to protest any further. She'd play along, if it meant getting her antidote faster. "So what did… _Bobby_ tell you to do?"

"Us. Tell us to do," Lori corrected.

"Whatever."

Lori's face darkened, and Luan jumped with fright. Despite her attempts to keep her heartbeat steady and low, her heartbeat immediately skyrocketed, pumping infected blood throughout her entire system.

But then Lori's face returned to the cheery, blushing expression she had before, and Luan calmed down a little. Her hand pressed on her chest, and she could feel the rapidness begin to die down.

"Sorry. Just… don't treat Bobby's orders with such… _dismissiveness_."

"I'm sorry."

"You should be. But anyways, my tall, dark and handsome Boo Boo Bear told me that the best way to get rid of Lucy and Lily isn't with something so direct. No, no, no. What we need is something more sneaky. Something that can't really be blamed on us."

"Something like?"

Lori grinned. "Luan, when I was living with Bobby in his _palace, _he told me that one of the main reasons women even exist is to cook. He said that buried in a woman's XX chromosomes is a subconscious knowledge of cooking. Oh, he literally has more wisdom than any Dalai Lama. So, Luan, with that being said… do you know how to cook?"

Cook? Well, Luan knew pies. And she supposed she could make a sandwich if she had to. But she still shook her head, and Lori frowned sympathetically. "Oh, poor Luan. No wonder that Benny boy didn't think you worth his time at all."

Luan's hand curled into an angry fist.

"But it doesn't matter," continued Lori, not noticing or not caring, "because I know how. You'll be my little chef's assistant in the kitchen today. We're going to make spaghetti and sauce. Only our dish will have a… special ingredient."

"S-special ingredient?"

Lori grinned again, and now hints of her true, twisted nature were visible on her face and in her crazed eyes. "Just imagine it, Luan. 'Oh, I'm so sorry, officer. I didn't know a spider crawled into our sauce. If I had known such a deadly, poisonous creature had gotten mixed with the rest of the ingredients, I wouldn't have served it to those two little sluts.'"

Luan's eyes widened, as wide as they could be. Her hand, still pressed on her breast, could feel a loud and heavy thump behind the bones. Was she really… was she really going to poison Lily and Lucy like she had with her? Was… was Luan about to help her do to her little sisters what Lori had done to her?

She could feel the room spinning, and she needed to lie down. But just as her knees felt like buckling, Lori jabbed Luan in the middle of her chest, and she narrowed her eyes. "Leave everything up to me," said Lori, "except for actually getting the spider. I need you to do that. Lana has one in her room, locked up so tightly I'm surprised it's still alive. Get it for me, Luan."

"B-But this plan might not work," cried Luan. "What if someone else eats from it? What if we get bitten by the spider? What if-?"

"Luan, please, this is a plan given to me by Bobby Boo Boo Bear himself," Lori said, her nostrils flaring. "Of course it'll work. And if it doesn't go exactly as planned, and someone else gets hurt… well, there are always casualties in war."

_There are always casualties in war._

Those words echoed in Luan's head as she slowly, hopelessly, stumbled back to her room, fully aware of Lori's eyes watching her like a hawk.

* * *

A soft hand cupped a blushing cheek. Two foreheads pressed together, and a giggle floating through the air like a warm summer breeze. Lucy planted another kiss on Lily's lips, and when their lips broke apart, Lily giggled again. "Am I tickling you?" asked Lucy.

"You're doing more than tickling me."

The two girls were naked under their blanket. Lucy lay on top of Lily as their girlhoods rubbed together. With every thrust and gyration, one of them moaned loudly. Their nipples, hard and erect, rubbed together as well, and Lucy found herself bowing her head to kiss Lily's growing breasts. Her fingers reached up to massage them, and Lucy smiled at Lily. "Am I tickling you now?" she asked the blonde.

"No, but keep going anyways," Lily moaned.

Lucy's tongue toyed with Lily's petite boobs, while her finger went downwards to play with Lily's inner thighs. She poked one finger inside, just breaking past the entrance, when Lily's hips jerked. "Lucy!" she cried through grit teeth. Her orgasm came to her, and it came stronger than before. Lucy's silken skin was sprayed with Lily's fluids, and the sweating young girl fell against her bed, one barely open eye on her older lover.

Lucy raised her hand and licked it like a cat.

"You're crazy."

"It doesn't taste that bad," Lucy said.

"I still prefer cereal," Lily said, wiggling out from underneath the goth, until she rolled over and fell out of bed with a cry. There was a final geyser-like burst from the naked girl's sex, and Lily bit down on her bottom lip as she felt a laugh almost escape from her.

"Didn't think I had one more left," the blonde admitted.

"I'd be happy to draw out more," said Lucy with a perverse grin.

"You really are crazy. Come on, it's time for a real breakfast."

The two nude girls put on their clothes for the day. Lucy clad herself with a pair of tight black jeans, a Nine Inch Nails shirt, and a choker around her neck. Lily decided to wear a plain white shirt today, but she still wore her signature shredded jeans. She frowned lightly, and then decided that it was a really warm day, so she swapped it for torn shorts.

"Let's see… what am I still forgetting?" she asked, tapping her lip. She then snapped her fingers, and reached over to her desk. Her hand wrapped around the ruby-studded sword necklace, and she put it on. She turned to Lucy with a adorable toothy smile, and Lucy couldn't help but blush.

"I'm… I'm glad to see you still care for it."

Lily hummed. "Of course I do, Luce. It's a gift from you. And it's the second best thing you've ever given me."

"Second? What's the first?"

Lily smiled with fey mischief, and reached up to nibble Lucy's ear. "You, of course," she whispered into it.

Their intimate moment was, of course, interrupted by Luna. The brunette rocker slammed into their doorway, a wide look of concern on her painted face. "Hey Luce, Hey Lils. Listen, no time to talk. Sam's coming over today, and I really, really, need you all to be on your best behavior, okay? Nothing to scare her off, please."

"Please, when have I ever scared anyone?" Lucy said.

Luna frowned. "Not in the mood for jokes, Spooky. Just… no funny business, alright? No spooky scary skeletons, no coffins, no fake blood or whispers in the dark."

Luna felt proud, in spite of herself. That was two musical references in one sentence. She should've gone for three.

"I promise," said the black haired girl.

"Ooh, Sam's coming over?" Lily said with excitement. Lily _adored_ Sam, so much so that Sam had once joked that Lily gave Luna competition for the place of her favorite Loud sister. The three music enthusiasts had hung out together so many times. Hell, one of Lily's fondest memories from the last year was her, Luna and Sam all together on a hill, laying in the back of Sam's dad's pickup truck, listening to slow and somber music on Luna's small radio while they looked up at the stars. A shooting star fell from the sky, and Sam had tapped Lily's arm and told her to make a wish.

So Lily did. She wished for all three of them to rock on until the Earth exploded.

"Yeah, Sam's dropping by for a visit. She'll be excited to see you, but try not to let her brainwash you too much. Switchfoot is still a shit band!"

She pounced away from the door, and ran down the hall to issue the same warning to everyone else. Lily couldn't help but giggle. "Hey, Lucy, can you imagine what she's gonna say to Lynn and Lincoln?"

Lucy chuckled morbidly. "No PDAs. She'll sound like 'the man' she's always raging against in her songs."

"Lol."

Aside from Luna's racket, the morning went by pretty uneventfully. Most of the siblings were going to be out of the house when Sam came to visit anyway, so Luna really didn't need to have bothered. "Are you sure now's a good time for visitors?" Lincoln asked her at the dining table. "I'm still messed up, and Leni's still out there somewhere."

"I tried to tell her that, dude, but she's pretty forceful," Luna shrugged.

While everyone ate their cereal, drank their juices, and buttered their toast, almost no one noticed how oddly quiet Luan was. She simply stared into a clear glass of water, her own reflection looking back at her. She could see guilt swimming in her eyes, but what was she supposed to do? If she didn't go along with what Lori said, she would _die_. No longer exist. And the idea terrified her. It filled her with a cold feeling of dread. She tried to imagine what it would be like to be dead, and the only thing that popped into her mind was darkness. Pure, utter, indifferent darkness.

She could tell them now. She could tell everyone at the table about Lori. But she kept her lips shut in fear. Lori was sitting at the table as well, and every once in a while she turned away from her conversation with Lana to look over her blue-clad shoulder at Luan. Her eyes were threatening, and Luan didn't dare step out of line. She kept her mouth shut, and hoped no one would ask her about anything.

However, things didn't work out that way.

"Luan? Are you alright? You haven't said a word. And what happened to your nose?"

Luan turned to look at Lily. The younger girl's blue eyes were wide with curious concern. She didn't seem as angry with her as everyone else was, which was weird, considering that the "prank" that hurt Lincoln had been intended for her.

Luan was touched by the young girl's concern. _I don't want to hurt you, _Luan thought. _I don't even want to hurt Lucy. Not anymore. Not like this. Ever._

She opened her mouth to answer Lily, but she stopped. She didn't trust her voice not to crack or warble or force her to break down in tears.

She waved her hand dismissively, and that was the end of that. Lily returned to Lucy's side, like an obedient lapdog, though she still cast concerned looks at Luan.

"Luan."

Another voice said her name. This time it was sharp.

Lori leaned down to look into Luan's eyes. "Listen, I talked to Lana, and I managed to convince her to go over to one of her slimy friends' houses for the day. Now's your chance. Go to her room, bring me the spider in the glass container with a bright green lid, and we'll work together on our little recipe."

Luan nose began to itch and sting. Even with all the bandages and ointment, it hurt a lot. Especially in Lori's presence.

"Do you promise to give me the antidote after this?" she asked Lori, her voice more desperate and pleading than she would've liked.

"Nope," said Lori cheerfully. "Not until Lily and Lucy eat our food and it takes effect. If that doesn't happen, well… let's just say you should do your best to make sure it does work. Okay, Luan?"

Luan blinked a few tears from her eyes, but Lori noticed and scowled with disgust.

_Sensitive little crybaby._

Luan got up from the table without a word. Her reluctance was conquered by her will to live. She would live, that would be sure. And when she did, she would make Lori pay. She would make Lori pay for everything she had done to her, done to Lincoln, and… and what she would do to Lily and Lucy.

The image of her sisters lying on top of each other, still and unbreathing, flashed in Luan's mind.

_I'm so sorry, you two. I'm so, so, _so_ sorry._

Such is life that forces her children to commit the cruelest acts in the name of survival. A tiger may only live if it takes the lives of deer. A soldier may only live if he takes the lives of his fellow man. And Luan… she would only live if she took the lives of her sisters.

She knew the right thing to do: to just lay down and die. Or better yet, reveal what Lori was to everyone and take her down with her. But Luan couldn't do that. What if no one believed her? Then Luan would be taken away, away from her family while she died, and Lori would remain at home, her clawed hands hovering menacingly over the heads of Lily and Lucy...

Maybe she was just making excuses for herself. She didn't know anymore.

"Why did I accept her offer? Why did I work with her?"

Before she knew it, she was standing in front of the door to Lana, Lola, and Lisa's room. She hadn't gone in there much, so she could only imagine how cramped it would be inside. She pried the door open, and was immediately blasted in the face with an air that was one third reptile smell, one third fruity perfume, and one third dangerous chemistry.

"At least I can tell which part of the room is Lana's part," Luan chuckled humorlessly. It was clear from the blueish bed and the wildlife teeming on it. There were lizards, turtles, snakes, frogs, toads, salamanders, rats, dragonflies, birds… but no spiders.

Luan cocked her head. Then an idea occurred to her. She slipped down to her knees and pried the blanket to look under the bed. The smell was so much worse down there, and it made her head spin and her stomach churn. She found, in addition to a pile of animal droppings (at least, she hoped it was animal) and a few pieces of gum, a large selection of cages. Even with her limited light, she could see small animals moving inside. "J-jackpot," Luan said, with no sense of pride or accomplishment.

It became pretty clear pretty quickly that this was Lana's dangerous animal selection. Animals that no little girl – or, for that matter, any responsible person – should keep under their bed. Scorpions snapped at her, venomous snakes hissed at her, and in one cage a lone spider ran along the see-through walls. Luan swallowed, and reached over to grab the container.

She pulled it out into the daylight. It was a really small spider, but Luan knew it had enough venom in it to kill an elephant.

Or two teenage girls.

"What are you doing?" a snooty voice said behind her. Luan gasped and nearly dropped the spider container in shock. She looked at the source of the voice, and found Lana's twin, Lola, standing there with her balled fists on her hips.

"Who, me?" Luan chuckled nervously. "I'm not doing anything at all."

"That doesn't look like nothing to me," Lola pointed at the spider in Luan's hands.

"Um… looks like I've been caught in a web of my own lies. Ha… ha. Geddit?"

There was no enthusiasm behind her joke. A girl finds that, when she's dying, humor is hard to find.

Lola crooked her head, and Luan was sure she was in for it now. Lola was a notorious tatteltale. Once she busted you doing something, you could rest assured the rest of the planet would learn about it in the gossip vine. The girl in pink seemed to consider it, but then an advantageous look popped on her face. "Were you trying to steal the spider, Luan?"

"N-No," Luan squeaked in the most unconvincing way imaginable.

"Relax, I'm not going to tattle," Lola said. "I don't really like that spider. It scares me, to be honest. And as much as I trust Lana… I don't actually. I'm worried she's going to accidentally mishandle it one day and then it'll bite her. Or worse, it'll come and bite _me_. Even if it doesn't kill me, the spider bite would ruin my perfect skin!"

Lola shivered, and Luan seemed to deflate. _Oh thank God, she's not going to tell._

"Soooo… I can take it?"

"Sure," Lola shrugged. "Take them all if you want. I don't really care. Just don't tell Lana I let you. Oh, and don't use them in any prank, honey."

Luan stepped past her younger sister, but she paused for a moment to look down at her. There, Lola saw something she rarely ever saw in Luan's brown eyes.

Sadness.

"Believe me, there won't be any pranks from me for a long, long time."

* * *

Sam hummed as she walked down the sidewalk. She was humming along to the song playing in her earphones, a Three Days Grace song by the name of _Animal I Have Become_. It was an odd song to hum along with, but Sam always had odd tastes. Her ideal campfire songs to sing for her family on their trips into the calm wilderness often involved words that would make a sailor scrub her mouth with soap.

Her hands reached into her pocket to kill the music as the Loud House appeared in her view. She walked past a few lawns, and remembered just how… _suburban_ this place felt. Sam could imagine that Jesus of Suburbia kid complaining about a place like this. He'd probably flip out and start frothing when he saw the literal white picket fence the Louds' neighbor had installed.

Sam got to the front door, and rapped her knuckles against it. Inside, Luna jumped up and looked around in a panic. "Shit, shit, she's finally here. Damn, I hope everything's tidy and all that."

"Relax," said Lynn on the couch. "Everything will be fine."

Maybe Luna would've found more comfort in Lynn's words if she hadn't been undressing Lincoln with her eyes at that moment. The athlete had a perverse grin as she stared at her man, and when he noticed, crimson flushed on both their faces. It took everything in Luna's power not to smack them. "Seriously you two," she hissed, "I don't want her thinking we're inbred hillbillies. Knock it off!"

"You know, I'll just head up to my room," said Lincoln. "Unless Her Majesty Sam needs to come around to inspect that as well."

If Luna had less impulse control, she would've punched him.

She dashed to the door and opened it wide for Sam, who beamed a bright and adorable smile that made all of Luna's worries evaporate in an instant. "What's up, dude?" Luna said as she wrapped her arms around Sam.

"You tell me. What's up with you?" Sam replied, returning the hug.

"Just keeping it real, Sammie."

Sam giggled and blushed, playing with a lock of her golden hair. "I told you not to call me that."

Sam stepped inside and headed for the couch. Luna was beyond pleased to see that Lincoln and Lynn had vacated. She loved those two, truly, and she didn't even mind that they were riding each other 'til they can't no more. She just didn't know how Sam would feel about it, and she really didn't want to risk it.

"Decent place you got here, Luna," said Sam, inviting herself to sit on the couch.

"Thanks, you too."

Luna blushed as she said that, and Sam snorted with laughter.

The commotion was loud enough to be heard through the kitchen's tightly shut door. Luan bit down nervously on her lip as she watched Lori stir the tomato sauce on the stove. The blonde was dressed in a cliché chef suit and hat, and had even drawn a silly little mustache above her upper lip. Luan would've found it funny if she wasn't painfully aware of how psychotic her sister was.

"Sounds like Sam's arrived," Luan noted.

"Ignore her. She's not what's important right now."

"Don't you think that she'll want to eat too?"

"If she does want to eat from our food like a freeloader, she's welcome to one of the plates of spaghetti that doesn't have spider poison in it," Lori said coolly. "And, speaking of which..."

Here came the dreaded moment. The moment where Luan would give Lori the dangerous arachnid, watch Lori as she opened the container and crushed the spider up inside one small pot of boiling sauce. Luan knew that if she was going to make a stand, it would need to be now.

But… she didn't.

She handed it over, feeling the evil weight pass from her to Lori, but it didn't make her feel any better. The darkness lingered, roosting inside her soul, and traveling through her bloodstream. She was scared. Scared of Lori, scared of death, scared of… _everything_.

_I feel... I'm so cold…_

Lori took the container from her, and her face twisted with delight. "Thank you, Luan. Now Bobby's perfect plan can finally be completed. And when Lily is gone, me and him will literally dance all night long on her grave."

Luan shivered. Lori's comments about Bobby chilled her. They made her so, so cold…

She thought about Sam and Luna in the other room, and how musical their laughs were.

She thought about Lynn and Lincoln, and how intimate their kisses were.

She thought about Lily and Lucy, and how soft their blushes were.

They were warm, and she wasn't. She was denied what they had. No, she had chosen her path. She had chosen her path with Lori, one of hate and vengeance and submission. But did she really deserve this? No. No one deserved this. She had a shot at love, so why did it go so wrong?

Lori giggled as she held the container in her hand – she was like a school girl. She played it with it, passing it from palm to palm and watching the spider inside get tossed about. Luan didn't know if she could feel bad for a monstrous spider, but she just found out she could.

"Alright, let's pry this thing open and get it over with. I'm missing my soaps."

She tore off the green top, and she carried it over to the pot. She was getting ready to pour the spider in…

"Lori? What are you doing?"

Lori froze. Luan froze. Luna and Sam stared.

The rocker's brown eyes seized on the contained in Lori's hands, and at the colored spider that scurried about within. "L-Lori? Is that… Lana's poisonous spider?" Luna asked. She spun to Luan, and pointed between her and the eldest sister. "Was… this your idea? Is this a prank? Is this another sick prank?"

"Luan, no, it isn't-"

"Save it, Luan," Lori commanded her, before she gave Luna and her girlfriend sickly sweet smiles. She set the spider down, sealing up the cage. "Now, Luna, this isn't what it looks like," she started. "I know this might seem bad, but..."

Lori's hand edged dangerously close to a knife.

"…there's a good reason I tried to pour a venomous spider into the spaghetti sauce."

Despite her ridiculous attire, or maybe because of it, Lori seemed terrifying and dangerous. Her fingers wrapped around the knife. Luna and Sam didn't notice, but Luan did, and she yelped with fright.

"Why would you do that?" Luna asked breathlessly. Her chest was beginning to thump, and from the way Sam trembled by her side, she was as scared as Luna was.

Lori smiled.

"Because I wanted to kill Lily."

She then flicked her wrist, and the sharp knife went flying through the air. Luan screamed as it flew and sank right into Luna's throat.

Luna didn't really feel it when the blade burrowed into her neck. It was… almost like an unbelievable moment, when something so sudden and so absurd happens, and your brain can't process it.

For a moment, Luna just stood there, stiff as a board, knife jutting from her throat and blood pouring down her shirt.

Then she coughed up blood, and fell to the ground.

"L-Luna?" Sam squeaked her girlfriend's name. She knelt by Luna's side, rocking her shoulders slightly. "If… if this a prank… please, it's not funny..."

"I got some bad news for you" said Lori, taking off her hat and wiping the marker mustache from her face, "it's no prank. The good news is, though, that it doesn't matter. You'll be joining her shortly."

"Lori!" Luan screamed to protest. Her face was whiter than it had ever been in her life. But it didn't matter. Nothing she said mattered, as Sam let out a scream of pure terror and ran out of the room. Lori snarled like an angry beast, and chased after her.

She tackled Sam in the living room, and the blonde rocker fought hard. She struggled and scratched at Lori, begging "Let me go, let me go, LET ME GO!" the whole time.

"Stupid bitch," Lori growled when Sam scratched her cheek hard enough to draw blood. She pinned Sam's flailing hands down to the ground, and she headbutted Sam. "Now how's Bobby supposed to look at me and see me as beautiful? You've RUINED me!"

Her hands went to Sam's throat, and her thumbs pressed into Sam's windpipe. The younger girl struggled underneath Lori, her arms jerking and flailing from side to side. She punched and smacked, but her attacks were getting weaker. She tried to scream, to call for help, to call for _Luna, _but everything was stuck in her throat.

Sam could feel tears in her eyes. She could see scenes flashed in front of them. Her first time on a bike… her first time holding a guitar… her father hugging her at middle school graduation… her first kiss with Luna…

She jerked once… twice… then no more.

Sam went slack in Lori's hands, and the older girl gasped and shuddered as she looked upon what she had done.

And then she smiled.

"I did it for you, Bobby," she said with a high-pitched giggle. "I killed for you, Bobby."

She looked down at the dead Sam, and back at the kitchen where she could hear Luan wailing over her dead roommate. "Oh well," Lori said, picking herself up of the ground, "I guess the whole subtlety thing has gone out the window."

She let out a barking laugh, and she said, "I guess I'll just kill head-on now. I mean, I can't get away with this anymore. Time to kill everyone~"

Lori then looked up at the stairs.

"And I think I'll keep the ball rolling with you, Lynn."

She took a step towards the stairs, where a paralyzed Lynn stood, her quivering feet unable to help her flee...


	10. Chapter 10

**anonymous789: Ooh, that's cold. I'm gonna leave a note to myself to add that in this chapter, because that's way too good.**

* * *

The sounds of running water and soft humming almost drowned out the screams.

Lynn had been washing her hands in the bathroom when she heard the shouting start. At first she ignored it, figuring it was some petty squabble that had broken out over something or another, but when she heard Sam screaming, she paused. There was no way Luna would let anyone so much as threaten Sam in her presence. Something was off. Lynn could feel it in her gut.

She bounded down the stairs, not sure what to expect, but no amount of expectation could've prepared her for what she saw next.

There was Lori, covered in blood that Lynn instinctively knew wasn't her own, on the ground. Her hands were hidden behind the couch, but her face was visible. It was contorted in an expression that chilled Lynn to her bones. A hateful sneer of anger. Her eyes were sharp, her teeth with clenched, and her scratched face was red with effort and rage.

Then Lynn heard a throaty gurgle, and watched in horror as hands and legs flung about behind the couch. Lori was… choking someone.

_S-Sam_, Lynn realized.

She was too terrified to move. Her mouth opened and a soft cry escaped, but it meant nothing. Her bravery abandoned her, and she was left frozen in fear. When Sam's arm finally stopped moving, Lynn could feel frightened tears welling in her eyes.

Then Lori got up and made her declarations. That she had murdered for Bobby. Her mouth moved some more, but now Lynn's ears were ringing and her mind went blank. She couldn't hear Lori. All she could hear were her quickening heartbeats, her ragged and whimpering breaths, her mind as it raced to think of Lincoln, as if she could telepathically call him to save her from… from… from _this_.

_This can't be happening? Wh-What's going on?_

"And I think I'll keep the ball rolling with you, Lynn."

The sound of her name snapped Lynn back to reality. Lori began to approach her, her body moving like a lioness in the hunt. "I've always hated you, Lynn," she said as she stepped closer, a hateful fire in her blue eyes. "You and Lincoln. You little filthy fucking degenerates. It wasn't just enough for you two to screw each other, you needed to get everyone else involved in your filth. But I hate you more than him. It's because of you that Lincoln didn't date Ronnie Anne. Bobby was literally always upset with me because of that. Because of _you_."

"Wh-wh-" Lynn tried to say something, but she didn't even know what. Her mind was now screaming only one word.

_RUN!_

Just as Lori made it to the stairs, Lynn brought forth every ounce of power in her body to throw herself up the stairs. Lori snarled and tried to grab at her, but Lynn was too fast. The brunette cast one last look of horror to Sam's dead body, then screamed – screamed like a little girl – and ran.

"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SLUT!" Lori roared.

Lynn wished she had a witty retort. But all she wanted now was to stay alive.

She bolted into her room, and quickly locked the door behind her. Lori fumed, slamming her foot into the ground with an animalistic cry of rage. "Just wait until I get Luan here! We'll fish you out and hang you in the basement!" Lori promised the hyperventilating athlete. With a final snarl, Lori ran back to the kitchen, and found Luan on the ground with her dead sister, holding Luna's hand to her face to brush the tears that fell from her eyes.

She then looked up, and her face darkened into a look of pure hatred. "_You!_"

"Yes, it's literally me. Now if you don't mind-"

"Fuck you Lori," Luan spat, more tears trickling down her face. "Fuck you, you killed my best friend. Fuck you and your antidote. I don't fucking want it, you psycho bitch. Get the fuck away from me. Get the fuck away from Luna!"

Lori flinched, as though Luan's words struck her, but then she revealed her teeth in an evil grin.

"I'm pretty sure it's Luna that's gone away from us," Lori taunted.

Luan screamed, and threw herself at Lori. Lori stumbled back, shocked, and fell to the ground, Luan tumbling on top of her. Lori felt her younger sister's hot tears fall on her face, before Luan pulled her fist back and screamed, "This is for Luna!"

She punched Lori as hard as she could. The older girl's face slammed against the tiles, and blood flew from her mouth. She felt a tooth break, but maybe that was her own imagination. Lori cried out in pain, and lifted her hands to defend herself, but Luan brought down another fist on Lori's eye. The blonde snarled, and when Luan tried a third punch, Lori managed to block it and headbutt her sister. Luan fell back with a cry, her nose bleeding for the second time that day, and now it was Lori's turned to mount her. Her face, already twisted with hatred, was barely recognizable as human anymore. Her eyes weren't her own. In the lights of her pupils, Luan could see something else. Maybe she was imagining it, but her eyes looked less like Lori Loud's and looked more like… Bobby's.

"You're useless." Lori spat on her cheek, then punched it. "You're pathetic," she said, slapping Luan with her nails and leaving a mark. "You're weak, Luan, you're weak and that's all you'll ever be."

Then she did the worst thing she could've done.

She punched Luan's heart.

The poor organ stopped momentarily, and Luan jerked with a hefty gasp. Then she felt it begin to beat, and it beat fast. So fast. Every heartbeat felt like a bolt of lightning striking her chest, each one bringing her closer and closer to her death.

"L-Lori..." Luan said, her voice shifting suddenly. The anger and fight from it had died, and all that was left was a scared little girl saying her sister's name.

"What is it?" Lori said as she stood, eclipsing her sister.

Luan didn't spend her last moments on Earth pleading for her life. She didn't spend them apologizing to Lori or Luna or Lucy or Lily. She didn't spend them praying for her soul, reminiscing about her life, or begging Lori to please, please, stop what she was doing. She didn't even make a final joke before she left the stage. Luan didn't have the time, nor did she have the will. Instead, she looked deep into her sister's eyes, to find the humanity that still remained inside. What she saw wasn't a demon or a monster. She saw her sister in there, but… tarnished. Different. Broken.

And she knew what it was that broke her.

"Please, Lori… before you go and l-let me die… you did this all for Bobby, right? Why? D-Don't you remember what he d-did to you?"

Her voice was weak and failing. Still, she had to try to get to her.

"Don't you remember, Lori? What Bobby did to you? Don't you remember how Lily s-saved-"

Lori face darkened when she said their sister's name. She had committed the cardinal sin: she mentioned Bobby and Lily in the same sentence.

Lori thought about punching Luan a final time, to finish her dark deed. She thought about kicking her or slapping her or slamming her head into the floor. But in a split second, she decided not to. She decided a much crueler thing to do was to walk away, leaving Luan to die on the floor... alone and unloved.

She spun around and let the poison she had poured into Luan's body do the rest.

Luan struggled to breathe for a long time. Her eyes were glued to the ceiling lights. She wondered if she could see angels in them.

She blinked, and she saw something. But it was no angel. It was a human.

Luna Loud reached down to her, with Sam and Leni standing behind her. They all smiled softly from their clouds.

"But why? I did bad things with her," Luan said.

Luna shook her head. "Around these parts," Luna said, "it's not your job to judge yourself. Someone else is supposed to judge you. Let Him decide."

Tears flowed from Luan's eyes. Everything was beginning to hurt. Her legs were numb, her arms were jittering, her chest was burning, her throat was parched, her lips were cracked, and everything in her body ached.

But despite all that, Luan felt a smile, small yet infinite, crawl to meet her lips.

She shook one last time, and she left us.

* * *

"Lynn, what's wrong?" said Lincoln from his bed. He had no idea what was going on, other than the fact that his older sister had flown into his room with the speed of a hawk and slammed the door aggressively. Her face screamed of deep fright. The athlete's eyes scanned the room wildly, as though they were searching for whatever had terrified her, but they only found the snowy haired boy and two of their sisters. Lucy and Lily were there as well, and they looked at Lynn with the same level of concern as he did.

Lynn opened her mouth to talk, but she found no words. Tears were gushing down her cheeks, and she fell to the ground on her knees, wailing loudly.

Lincoln jumped from his bed and rushed to her side, cradling her gently in his arms like he was consoling a frightened child after a nightmare. His hand ran through her chestnut hair, and he smoothed his palm over her scalp. She buried her face in his chest, and he whispered reassuringly to her. "_It's okay, Lynn. I'm here for you. Please, Lynn, I'm here for you._"

Lucy and Lily cast looks at each other. Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.

"I-It's Lori," Lynn finally heaved. "She… she..."

"She what?"

"She _killed _Sam."

Just at that moment, before Lincoln could ask her to repeat herself, a long knife flew right into the door. The teens screamed as the blade of the machete wiggled in the splintered wood of the door. Lori's wide, hysteric eye popped through, scanning the room and the terrified faces of her sisters and brother. "Good, you're all together," Lori said. "This'll make everything a whole lot easier on me."

Lily was in shock. _Wh-what's going on?_

I_ don't know, but RUN! _Her mind screamed to her.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere to run.

The door bust open, so hard it nearly flew off its hinges. Dust and splinters fell, and Lori's foot crushed them. A wicked sneer lit up her face, and she had an iron-clad grip on her weapon. Her eyes looked to Lily, and they burned with recognition. "It's all because of you, Lily," she said.

"M-Me?" Lily whimpered. Lucy stepped in front of her, shielding her with her arm. She was scared too – unbelievably so – but thanks to her composure, it didn't show as much. Her chest heaved with every terrified breath, but she knew that she would risk her life to keep Lily safe.

"I didn't want to be like this," Lori sighed, wiping some sweat from her forehead with a bloody hand, "I really didn't. I was happy, once upon a time. I was with Bobby, we were living together, we were happy and we were going to make a family. Then _you _had to come in and ruin it for me, you selfish little girl."

"What?"

"Don't act like you don't remember," Lori glowered and pointed the tip of her knife at Lily's face. "Don't act like you're innocent. You ruined my life with Bobby back then. He made me happy, and you took that away from me."

"Happy? Lori… d-don't you remember?" said Lily.

"Remember what?" Lori spat.

Suddenly, the fear and hesitation vanished from Lily's face. Her gaze seemed to harden, and her wide eyes narrowed as they looked into Lori's eyes. "I think," she said, "that you're the one that doesn't remember. If you're doing this for someone like Bobby… you clearly don't remember."

There was a twitch in Lori's eyes. "I remember clearly. It was a week like any other. Me and Bobby were enjoying our lives. Then you came by for a visit and then s-something happened and you called the police-"

"That something, Lori, was him slapping you."

Lori staggered back, as if she had been slapped now. Lily's voice was cool, but it was laced with something else. Something that Lori couldn't decipher. It could've been fear or sympathy. The small girl took a step forward, and Lucy held out her arm to stop her. She looked down at Lily, her mouth twisted with fear.

"Lily-"

"Don't worry Lucy, I'll be fine."

Lynn shivered in Lincoln's arms as she watched Lily bravely approach Lori. "You see, Lori," Lily wet her lips, "I called the cops when I came to visit you because Bobby slapped you. I don't see how you don't remember that. O-Or maybe you do, and you're just ignoring it."

"You're lying," Lori hissed in a low whisper. Lily detected an undertone of fear in the older girl's voice, so she took another unsettled step forward.

"It wasn't the first time either. You… you were wearing sunglasses when I came to visit. Because he gave a black eye earlier. You tried to cover it up with makeup, but you couldn't. I saw the way he was treating you. He got cocky, and made the mistake of hurting you in front of me. Th-that's why I called the cops, Lori," Lily said, tears stinging at her eyes. "That's why I took him away from you. I didn't want to see him hurt you anymore."

"I..."

Lily sniffled loudly, her eyes tearful, as she looked at Lori. She looked back at her, but her pupils were glassy and unfocused. Was… was Lily telling the truth? Was Bobby hitting her and hurting her? Did Lily save her that one time? Lori felt immense pain shoot through her chest, burning her heart, and she fell to the ground and clutched her skull. Her breaths were weighty as images flashed before her eyes. She saw herself at the mall with Bobby, trying on a new dress to impress him and being met with scornful laughs. She saw herself at home, serving Bobby his dinner only for him to grab the plate and throw it at her. She saw herself in bed one night, drifting off to sleep… when Bobby arrived, stinking of alcohol… only for him to…

"No. It can't be..."

Lori's voice was inaudible. She blinked several times, and found herself staring into a wide and open space. No Lily, no Lucy, no Lynn nor Lincoln. But there was someone with her. A tall Hispanic man with a green jacket and a kindly smile. Lori would've been comforted by that smile before, but now she found herself flinching at it.

"_Babe,_" said Bobby, taking a step towards her, his arms wide open for a hug.

"Don't," Lori said, holding up her hand. She seemed confused and afraid, like a girl who didn't know what to believe anymore.

Bobby cocked his head with an artificial look of innocence, childish concern. "_What's wrong, Lori? Don't you like it when I hug you? I thought I was your Boo Boo Bear._"

"Lily told me some things," Lori spilled. "She said some things about you. That you… you hurt me."

"_Oh, babe, come on. She's the enemy,_" Bobby shook his head like he was dealing with an especially stupid child. "_She just said that to make you pause. She's trying to save herself, so she can keep us apart forever._"

"No! I remember all those things that you-"

Again, he shook his head. "_Lori, Lori, Lori,_" he repeated her name comfortingly. He came by her side and wrapped his long arm around her shoulder. Lori shook in his grasp, but... she also found it nice. His touch was soft and caring, and his pleasant fragrance filled her nostrils. He looked at her with a smile, and Lori was finding it harder to see the snake underneath.

"_Lori, you can't let her get into your head. You can't listen to other people and let them choose for you. You have to choose for yourself,_" he said, tapping her chest gleefully. "_Listen to me, Lori. I promise I'll never lie to you. Not like Lily would. See, if I actually dared to treat you like anything less than the queen you are, would you have put up with me?_" Before she could answer, he spouted, "_No! You wouldn't have! So why would you think me evil now? Because Lily said so? Lily is the reason we're apart. Lily is the reason you're back home babysitting for them instead of lying with me on the couch. She's the bad guy, Lori. How could you let yourself believe her?_"

He… he was right. How could she be stupid enough to let Lily trick her? Bobby would never hurt her. He was… he was…

"_Perfection,_" Bobby said, with a perverse grin.

Yes. He was perfection itself. He was kind and strong and wise and handsome. And, most importantly, he would never hit hurt. A-and even if he did, she deserved it. She deserved it for doing something stupid or cooking his food wrong or r-refusing to perform her womanly duties…

"Yes," Lori said, her eyes glassing over. "You are."

Suddenly, the room spun, and Lori found herself again in Lynn's room. Lincoln and Lynn held each other tightly, hoping Lori's eye wouldn't fall on them. Lucy stood by the wall, her arm extended and ready to reach for Lily if something went wrong. And Lily stood in front of her. Her face was a mix of bravery, fear, and sad pity.

Sad… pity…

_How dare you look at me like that? _Lori thought. Her grip on the handle of the knife tightened. A dark shadow passed over Lori's face. "That may be true, Lily," Lori said, voice devoid of emotion, "but I still love him more than you."

Her arm shot outwards, and Lucy screamed as the knife hit Lily's chest.

Lily gasped, before she fell to the ground. The back of her head slammed on the hard wooden floor, and Lily cried out in pain. Lori stepped over her younger sister, ready to finish the job she had started…

Lucy tackled Lori, and pushed her to the ground. "Wha- Let go of me!" screamed Lori.

Something about Lucy's pounce urged her older sister and younger brother into action. The two looked at each other with solemn faces, nodded, and joined Lucy as they piled on top of Lori. Lynn held down Lori's right arm, while Lincoln held down her left. Lori screamed for them to get off of her, before Lucy pressed her knee into the blonde's body. "Fuck you, let me go!" Lori yelled.

Lucy grit her teeth and raised her fist.

"No."

She punched Lori's face with the strength of an asteroid slamming into the Earth's crust. Lucy could feel Lori's nose break under her knuckles, but she only kept digging deeper into Lori's face. The eldest sister, more crazed and angry than ever, tried to bite Lucy's arm, but the goth pulled it back at the last second and punched Lori again. "How dare you hurt Lily?!" Lucy screamed, her voice overflowing with pain and angry. "How dare you touch my girlfriend?!"

"F-Fuck you and fuck her," Lori spat.

Lucy raised her arm again, ready to give Lori another blow, when Lori's leg shot up and kicked Lucy in the crotch. It wasn't painful at all, but it did startle Lucy enough into jumping. Lincoln's grip, thanks to his weak arm, loosened, and Lori used that as an opportunity to scratch at him. He let her go, and she used her now-free hand to punch Lynn. She hit the jock in the gut, and Lynn fell back momentarily. Lori shot up, and took off running from the room. She tripped over her own feet as she landed face-first into the hallway rug, but she scrambled to her feet and continued to run.

She… she had lost.

Lincoln and Lynn were prepared to chase after Lori, poising themselves to chase after her, but Lucy quickly reached out and grabbed their shoulders with an Olympian grip. "Lily," she said simply, and the trio's faces paled as they looked back to their younger sister lying on the floor.

"Lily!" Lincoln cried.

"What? What is it?" said Lily, her head picking up off the ground. She sounded rather casual, considering what had just happened.

Her sisters and brother rushed to her side, and Lucy found herself tearing her shirt open and revealing her chest. Her eyes scanned Lily's white flesh for any sign of red. "Where's the cut mark?" Lucy asked her in a panic. "Where did she hurt you? Did she cut an artery?"

"No, she didn't. Actually, Lucy… she didn't cut me at all."

Lucy blinked, confused.

Lily gave her girlfriend a soft smile, and she reached downwards. Her fingers grasped something, and she held it tightly in her palm as she lifted it up for Lucy to see. When her fingers unfurled around it, Lucy gasped, as did Lynn and Lincoln.

"The necklace you gave me," Lily said, cradling the draconic blade in her hand, "saved me. Her knife was aiming for me, but it ended up hitting the necklace instead. It saved my life. Though it did end up breaking a little bit of the ruby..."

"Th-The ruby?" Lucy repeated.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Lucy."

Lily looked up into Lucy's face, not knowing what to expect.

What she really didn't expect was to see her sister biting back a smile.

She lost the struggle, and ended up throwing her head back and letting out a laugh. And not just any laugh either. It was a laugh that was filled with amusement and merry.

"You're sorry?!" Lucy continued laughing hysterically, clutching her side to keep herself steady. "You're sorry because the ruby broke? Lily… I'd break a million of those things if it meant keeping you safe. Lily, I don't care. I'm just so glad you're okay!"

Her hysteric laughing cut short, and her lip quivered. "I thought… I thought that you..."

She grabbed the younger girl and hugged her tightly, painfully, against her body. Every once of her weight crashed into Lily's frame, and the young blonde almost coughed, but stopped herself as Lucy cradled her head, running her fingers through Lily's hair. It seemed like desperate clawing, reaching and touching Lily to make sure she was really there. The older girl felt Lily's heartbeat resonate through her body, and she couldn't stop herself.

"I thought you were-" was as much as Lucy could say before she started to cry.

Lily felt Lucy shake with every sob, and she felt like crying herself. She bit down on her lip, steeling herself.

_Don't, Lily. You have to be strong. Be strong for your sister._

She reached up weakly to stroke her sister's black hair. "I'm not, Lucy. Whatever you thought I was, I'm not," Lily whispered comfortingly to her. She felt her fingers race through Lucy's soft hairs, and she waited with infinite patience for her older sister's tears to pass.

Lucy looked up, and met Lily's eyes with her gaze. "I love you," she said. Her breath was cool on Lily's warm face.

"I love you too."

Lily pecked her older sister on the forehead, and she let out a giggle. Not of humor. It was a signal. A signal to Lucy that everything was okay. It was a giggle of safety, security, and a hardened love that could never be separated or broken by something like this.

"I'm just glad you're okay, Lils," said Lincoln a shaky voice, reaching over to touch his little sister's shoulder. The two smiled warmly at each other, and Lily turned her head to look at Lynn.

Only there was no Lynn.

"Um, guys… where did Lynn go?"

* * *

Lori staggered into the kitchen, throwing her knife down. When it hit the floor, it rattled and shook, filling the kitchen with its metallic noise. Lori stepped past the bodies of Luna and Luan. She regarded them for a moment, but she felt no pity. She felt no remorse. She was sorry, but not that she hurt everyone this way. She was sorry that it was all for nothing. All of it had been for Bobby. If he commanded her, she would've set fire to her entire family tree. But no, all he had asked was one kill. ONE kill. And she couldn't deliver.

"_You've failed me, Lori."_

Lori spun around with a frightened whisper. "It's not my fault," she said.

The floating face of Bobby appeared before her, but now it wasn't a sight of comfort. His face was distorted and demonic, twisted and gnarled and bathed in blood-red light. He looked at her with anger, and he repeated, in a much louder and angrier voice, _"YOU'VE FAILED ME, LORI!"_

"I'm sorry!" Lori fell to the ground, smacking her eyes as though she wanted to blind herself. Anything to get this twisted parody of her beloved away from her. "I'm sorry, Bobby. Please, I'm begging you, help me one last time! Help me!"

"_No," _he said coldly, _"You're on your own now."_

Bobby faded away slowly, like a cloud of smoke dissipating. His particles circled around Lori like a cyclone, and Lori screamed as she breathed in everything he was. She coughed and spat and begged to anyone listening to end her right there. _Make it end, just make it END!_

When she opened her eyes again, she saw a shadow cast from the doorway of the kitchen.

She turned, and saw Lynn.

Lynn glanced to the side, and her mouth fell in horror as she saw Luna and Luan's bloodied bodies. "D-Did you do this?" Lynn asked.

"Y-yes. I think," Lori said.

Her voice had changed. She no longer sounded like the confident and imposing Lori from before, nor like the broken and frighteningly disturbed Lori from her room. She sounded like a timid little girl, terrified of her own shadow... and that just made Lynn madder. After everything she had done to them – and the more that she had done to Sam, Luna, Luan, and, as they would later find out, Leni – she had the audacity to be frightened?! Lynn felt her teeth grind together, and her eyes darken like a rabid carnivore about to devour its prey.

She took a step forward, and Lori squealed. "Stay away from me!" cried the eldest girl.

"Or what?"

Lori looked around the kitchen for anything she could use. With every shake and turn of her head, her hair, once her beaming pride, became more and more frizzled and undone. Finally, her eyes landed on something next to the pots, and she smiled vacantly. "Or I'll use THIS!" Lori screamed, grabbing the container that held a deadly spider inside. Lynn didn't stop, for she didn't know what it was, so Lori reached in and grabbed the spider herself. "Don't make me use it!"

Lynn's eyes widened when she saw the spider. Lori felt proud of herself for stopping her little sister in her tracks, but before she could congratulate herself, she realized how big of a mistake she had just made by grabbing the spider.

Just as she realized it... she felt a tiny, painful bite on her thumb.

"O-Oh."

The effects were immediate. The spider scurried away as Lori began to jerk and dance uncontrollably. She began to scream in pain, as both intense fiery heat and blizzard cold filled her body. She sweat and coughed and heaved. Then her lips began moving. Like the victim of a truth serum, her lips began to tell Lynn about everything. They began to speak about Luan and Leni and Bobby and Lily, and the entire time Lynn watched, she could feel her breaths getting shorter.

Both girls felt it. That surreal sense of... _fear_.

Finally, with a final cry of pure pain, Lori fell completely to the ground. She wheezed as she covered her eyes, tears flowing down to her cheekbones.

"It's not fair," were her final words.

When Lori stopped moving, Lynn waited for a few seconds before approaching her sister and making sure she was gone. She swallowed, then walked over to the phone in their kitchen and dialed three numbers.

9-1-1

Lynn could barely speak, but she told them to send people to her home. The operator promised help was on the way. Lynn almost smiled at that.

She put the phone back in its place, and fainted.

* * *

The funeral for Sam Sharp was first. It took a few more days to prepare the four graves of the four eldest Loud girls. There was a sense of numbness in Lily's chest as she watched her older sisters disappear into the dirt. She blinked back tears, and swallowed heavily. She… she didn't know how to feel. When she watched Luan go, she felt like she had lost a great joy in her life. When she watched Luna go, she felt like she had lost a teacher that was also the best friend she had ever known. When she watched Leni, she almost broke, for she felt like she had lost a second mother. And when she watched Lori go, she felt like she had lost someone who needed her help…

Someone she had failed.

She looked up to Lucy's grim face, and she realized that the goth was thinking the same.

Their parents didn't stop crying. They couldn't. They placed so much blame on themselves for not being there for their daughters. In the coming weeks, Rita would avoid their rooms and the garage, for if she entered, she would break down in tears. Lynn Sr. avoided coming home at all. When his children visited him at his restaurant, his face would burst into smiles, but he didn't want to go back home. It would be a long time before he did.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Lola, Lana, and Lisa all huddled together, their eyes wet and their faces puffy. She went over to them, they looked up at her, and all four came together in a warm embrace.

Lucy would've joined her, but she had other siblings to attend to.

Lynn and Lincoln were standing by Luna's stone, and Lucy slowly walked up to them. His arm was wrapped comfortingly around her, and between her tearful eyes and her soft black jacket, she didn't look like powerful, indestructible Lynn Loud Jr.

The girl had suffered a breakdown. A complete sense of detachment from reality had taken her mind. It took a few days for her to recover from her bout of insanity... but the nightmares would last for years.

Lucy hugged her first.

The two sisters held each other tightly. Lynn didn't want to let go. If she didn't let go of Lucy, then her younger sister could never join the others under the dirt.

"Lynn, let go," Lucy said. Softly. Comfortingly. Sisterly.

"Sorry," Lynn whispered quietly.

When Lucy was done with Lynn, she reached over to hug her brother. She felt him sigh, and she rubbed his back comfortingly. When the hug broke, she stood by his side, looking down at the tombstones before them.

"I still can't believe it," Lincoln said in a low voice. "Four of our sisters are d-dead..."

"And all because one of them grew to hate us," Lucy added sadly.

"I know this might be a bad time," said Lynn, looking over to Lucy, "but it might also be the right time to talk about something important."

"What?"

Lynn inhaled deeply through her nose, summoning the energy and courage to say what she wanted to say. "Um… Lori died because she really hated some of us. And so, uh, I figured that I don't want anything like that to happen again. Not just the violence, but the quiet resentment. Or… or distance, I guess. What I'm trying to say, Luce, is… lately, I've felt like there's something between us. We used to be so close, but now it sometimes feels like we're strangers in the same home. I… I just want you to know that I love you, and I always will."

Lucy didn't know what to say. So her response was automatic like a nerve impulse.

"I've felt the same, dear sister. As for what came between us..."

She looked up at Lincoln, standing between her and Lynn.

"…it's to do with both of you."

"Both of us?" Lincoln raised his eyebrow.

"We all used to be so close," Lucy said. "Me and Lynn slept together in the same room, and we spent the time talking and playing games. We may not have always enjoyed each other's company, but… I wouldn't have given it up for the world. And you, Lincoln. We used to be together all the time. You helped me with my poetry, I helped you with girls… and sometimes I thought about teaching you how to court _me_.

"But ever since you two became a couple, I've felt like… like a third wheel. A third wheel that was slowly fading away, to be lost forever. And... and... sigh."

Lucy lowered her head. "I just miss how close we used to be," she concluded.

Lynn blinked, as if she were fighting back a new wave of tears. "I'm sorry," she choked. "It's my fault."

"No it isn't. I'm happy for you two. I'm happy that you've found love just as strong and potent as the love I've found with Lily. But-"

"But nothing, Lucy," said Lincoln. "You've done nothing wrong, and I understand. Me and Lynn both do. We… we actually talked about it before all this happened. I miss spending time with you as well."

Lucy blushed. "Lincoln..."

"You know, I've got my driver's license recently," Lynn said with a small smile, "so maybe after all this blows over, we can go somewhere together and hang out. The three of us. How's that sound?"

Lincoln nodded, and they both looked at Lucy. She seemed to think about it for a moment, before a smile touched her face like one of the sun's shining rays.

She nodded, and the three hugged again.

When it came time to leave, everyone said their goodbyes to the departed. Even Lori. No one would've forgiven themselves if they forgot about Lori. What surprised everyone the most was that Lily bent down on her knees and kissed Lori's gravestone. When she pulled her lips back from the cold writing on her tomb, Lily whispered, _"I love you," _so softly that even she couldn't hear it.

She didn't need to hear it. Only Lori needed to hear it.

In that car ride home, Lucy and Lily sat next to each other. They looked at each other and kissed each other's lips. It wasn't a passionate, fiery kiss. It was slow and gentle, meant to comfort.

"So what now?" Lily asked Lucy.

"Life goes on. It always does, and it'll be as dreary as if always is. But a world without our older sisters will certainly be a more dreary place."

Lily nodded, and said nothing for the rest of the car ride.

When they got home, everyone went inside except for Lily. She sat down on the porch of their home and looked up to the gray sky. She felt a droplet of rain hit her cheek, but she somehow knew it wasn't going to rain very hard.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her music player. She plugged in the earphones and scrolled through her library of music. She searched for something specific, something to match the mood, but eventually gave up. Her older sister Luna had once taught her that when things gets really rough, and music is your only escape, never choose the song.

_"Let the spirit of the music guide you to your emotions,"_ she could hear Luna say.

Lily put her player on shuffle and leaned back to listen.


	11. Chapter 11

**anonymous789: To answer your question from way back (about whether Bobby liked Luan or not) the answer is that he didn't. The Bobby seen was a pure illusion, and it was only Lori's paranoia and self-loathing that made her think he did. I would've answered sooner, but one person thought Bobby was dead/a ghost, and I wanted to toy with his expectations some more. I'm a little trickyboi.**

**Tristen: Now it's over.**

* * *

"Done," she finally said.

It had taken her less time than she thought it would've. Less than twenty days. She couldn't help but be proud of herself. She knew that for most people it took months or years to finish a novel, but here she had done it in such a short time.

Then again, it would be easy to write a novel when the events were all taken from real life...

She would change the names of the characters, of course. And if she ever got her work published, she would publish it under a pseudonym, so that the events may never be traced back to her. But that didn't matter. None of that mattered. What mattered was that Lucy Loud had finished her first novel.

A rare smile skirted her face.

But the real test of her writing's worth would begin now. With a gulp that was both fearful and hopeful, Lucy gathered the pages that she had poured her soul onto, and placed them neatly in order. One chapter was shorter than the others, and Lucy swallowed when she remembered which one that was. She blinked back a tear, and murmured a soft prayer for her sister. For all of her sisters. Even Lori.

Yellowing pages in hand, Lucy placed them all together in the sleeve of a binder. She took that binder with her as she went up the stairs. She made little noise as she walked up the steps. Her ears pricked slightly, sensing something off about how the stairs didn't creak or thud underneath her. It made her feel like a ghost. When she thought about what she had written, she chuckled humorlessly at the thought of being a ghost.

She knocked on a door in the dark hall, and entered without waiting for an answer. She knew she wouldn't have received an answer, for Lily was sleeping inside, but she thought it would be polite. When the door opened, the faint light of the hallway spilled into the room and a ribbon of it landed right on Lily's eye. She groaned and stirred from her sleep, and when she opened her fluttering eyes, she saw it was Lucy standing in her doorway like a tall specter of death.

Lucy wasn't death, though. To Lily, she was the opposite. She was life and love itself.

She smiled softly when she saw Lucy, as she always did when, and Lucy's heart fluttered. The doom and gloom of her world could always be vanquished by the bright, shining smile of Lily Loud. "Hey Lucy," Lily said softly, rubbing her tired eyelid. "What's up?"

"I, uh, I finished," Lucy said, holding up her dark binder. Lily frowned and squinted, trying to tell what it was in the dark. Lucy sighed and closed the door behind them, and flicked one of the light switches to turn on the lights. Lily saw that it was a binder, and immediately understood what it was.

"Oh, you finished that book you were writing. Wow, that was fast," Lily giggled. "What's it about?"

Lucy looked down to Lily's neckline, and saw thin metal straps secured around it. Her eyes went a little lower, to her chest, and she saw the very item that made her think about writing her story. The sword totem with two serpentine dragons encircling it, and a cracked red gemstone encrusted in the blade. Lily sensed her lover's eyes on her chest, and thought to make a joke, but she recognized the somber look on Lucy's already somber face, and she reached up to touch her necklace. The full significance of it never truly clicked with Lily, but she still treasured it like a fiancee treasures her wedding ring.

"It's about that necklace," Lucy said finally, her voice slow and steady. "And other things."

"What other things?"

"Us. Like us. And everything that happened to make us us."

Lily shook her head. "Lucy… I know you want to write for a dark and mature audience, but this… don't you think it's a bit too much? These are… these are people's lives you're fictionalizing. Family members. _Our_ lives."

"I know that. But still..."

Lily held up a hand, cutting the author off. "Did you… did you treat them with dignity?" she asked.

Lucy knew who she was talking about. Lily just didn't want to say their names.

"I tried," she admitted truthfully.

Lily sighed, and nodded a solemn nod. She then shook her head, as if she were arguing with herself. Her blonde hair was longer now, so strands and curls of it bounced as she moved her head. "You know what," Lily said with a smile, "I'm not gonna make this an interrogation. Congratulations, Lucy. I knew you could do it. And I'm sure it's a good book."

Lucy's cheeks flushed red, and she tried to hide her blush behind the binder. Even after months, she couldn't help but be as awkward as a middle school girl approaching her crush at their locker. Lily loved that about her. As well as everything else.

"Thanks. So, uh… sigh. If it's not too much to ask, Lily..."

"Do you want me to read it?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes please."

Lily got up from her bed slowly, drawing it out for all it was worth. The blanket was throw off her supple body, and Lucy saw how little she was wearing. A plain white shirt that was a few sizes too large for her, and on the bottom she wore nothing but a pair of pure white cotton panties. Lucy could see the red flush crawling up her legs, and Lucy wet her lips, imagining herself kissing her there.

The younger girl approached Lucy and put her hands gently on top of Lucy's fingers, which clutched the binder so tightly that her knuckles were whitening. She rubbed the goth's hands smoothly, drawing a hushed moan from her painted lips. Lily smiled softly, her cheeks glowing to match the color of sunset. "I'd be honored to," said Lily, looking up into Lucy's eyes. She smiled when she actually met them. The black bangs that had once hid them were gone - now Lucy's headband kept them from hiding the windows to her soul. She didn't want to hid them from Lily, or anyone else. Her eyelashes were long, and they fluttered. Lily couldn't stop herself from rising up and kissing Lucy on her eye. "I love you. Even if you write books that make me miserable."

Lily kept to her word. She was busy for some time with homework and spending time with friends, but she kept her word. It took her less than a week to read. If you counted only the days where she read it, it took her three days. If you counted the days where she didn't even want to touch the thing, it took her five days to finish it. But by the sixth day, a lazy Saturday, she had come to Lucy on the living room sofa and given her the binder back. Lucy's heart beat rapidly as she asked her, "What did you think?" and waited for her response with baited breath.

"I thought the exact same things I thought when I lived through... all that. When I read about Lori, I felt scared. When I read about Luan, I felt so bad for her. When I read about Lynn, I cringed. And when I read about you..."

Lucy leaned in, and Lily took that as an opportunity to smirk, grab her older sister's face, and bring her down for a passionate kiss. They held on for a moment, tasting each other's love, before they broke apart, a thin and shimmering line of spit on both their tongues. Lucy felt Lily's breaths, and how hot and ragged they were.

"… I remembered why I loved you so much."

Lily rubbed herself against Lucy, her flat chest brushing against Lucy's milky boobs, and brought her face down to hers again as if she were planning to kiss her. She didn't though. She spoke to Lucy, and let the cool air wash over the older girl's blushing face.

"I remembered how you seemed like such a mystery to me. You were so exotic and so distant. I don't remember how often we even talked. Maybe we didn't," said Lily, a sad incline in her voice. Then her smoldering love returned to her. "But then I took that first brave step, and I found there was so much to you. You were emotional, kind, smart, brave..."

"I don't think I'm brave."

Lily shook her head, and kissed the side of Lucy's mouth comfortingly. "You were brave. You are brave. Against everyone and everything else, you're one of the strongest. Do you think that someone like me, Lily Loud, would fall so deeply in love with a coward?"

"No. That's Lynn's job," Lucy opined.

Lily let out a harsh laugh. "And here I thought you made up with her and Lincoln."

"I did. But the true test of friendship is insulting them. Only the closest friends insult each other, because they know that they'll stay friends after that."

They both laughed in their murmurs, and Lily kissed her again. "I love you, Lucy. Thank you for this."

"For what?"

"For writing a book that kept me up at night, I really needed the scares to help me study," Lily joked, before dismissing it with a wave. "But seriously, thank you for reminding me about us. I think what makes us special is just how much we had to fight for we have now. It's… it's strange honestly. Two sisters with so little in common… but then here we are."

She reached to her necklace and wrapped her soft fingers around it.

"You're worth fighting for, Lucy," she told her, "and you're worth dying for."

They hugged, holding each other tightly, as the painful memories washed over them. It was almost cathartic. It hurt, what happened to them, and it would always hurt. It would always hurt that they lost some of their closest friends and sisters. It would always hurt that their eldest sister died hating them. It would always hurt knowing that it wasn't really her, but a bout of insanity that destroyed their family. It would always hurt knowing that while they all died, Bobby Santiago lived with the smug satisfaction that he would one day be freed from his cell and back on the streets.

But they had each other to fight the darkness with. And they held each other close.

Well, each other, and two other people who shouldn't have been together either.

"You know you two could do that in your room, right? And then you can do it naked."

The jovial voice of Lynn cut their moment, and they both looked at her with annoyance. Lincoln was by her side, and he just shrugged with a little smile, a little amused by his girlfriend's antics. Lynn's eyes lit up when she saw the dark colored binder in Lucy's hands, and she quickly pointed at it and asked, "What's that?"

"N-Nothing. It's nothing," said Lucy, trying to hide it.

Lynn's smile just grew wider. "Oh, don't tell me… is it some love poetry?"

"Lynn!" Lily whined. Her face was softly red like ember before, but now it went fully supernova out of embarrassment.

"Damn, I can only imagine how many times Lucy must've rhymed 'sigh' with something. Like, I don't know, '_When I look at you, I sigh. When I see my soda spill, I cry._'"

Lucy pounced on the jock like a black panther, and Lily hopped in right after. As the brawl turned into a raging dust cloud, Lincoln looked at the audience and shrugged. "In a big family like this, you just gotta roll with stuff like this," he said, before letting out a high-pitched war cry and jumping in to fight his older and younger sisters.

They had a lot of fun.

Sometimes you just need fun at the end of some dark times.

* * *

The book got published a few years later, after many rejections. The publisher who accepted it demanded a few changes. Well, a lot of changes. The ages had to go up, the incestuous sex scenes were completely eliminated, more words were demanded, and a few other minor details that made the story barely recognizable. Lucy was, understandably, annoyed as she read her hardcover copy, so she went back to her original manuscript and began proofreading it for minor spelling errors and improper grammar on her own. She was already planning for it to get accidentally leaked to the web. Accidentally, of course.

And one night, when she got done finishing up with the first sexual encounter between her and Lily, she retired to her room, where she found a present waiting for her on her bed.

It was Lily, grinning with playful mischief, wrapping up in nothing but a red ribbon. Her silky skin was glistening in the soft light, her golden hair shampooed and cleaned, and Lucy could just almost make out the outline of her sex under a strip of red felt.

"Congrats on getting published," Lily purred. "Aren't you going to open your… present~?"

Lucy smirked, and eagerly went to her sister.

* * *

**Someone way earlier on said that this story was just an edgier version of my old fic _Bound By Secrets_. And in a sense, it was. It was a Loudcest story featuring Lincoln, Lynn, Lucy and a villainous Lori, with a frame story to bookend it. I do feel, however, like I put a new spin on the tropes I used before, which made it a bit darker and more thrilling to write than that one. ****I've actually had at least two people tell me they couldn't finish this story after the Leni chapter, and while I get that, I still think it's not **_**that**_** bad. Maybe it's because it was Leni specifically...**

**There is one thing that this story made me realize as well: I don't usually depict Lori in a good light. Don't get me wrong, I've written her positively before ("Anything For A Friend"), and I've written the other siblings in a similar light as here ("The Sixth Daughter"), but I'd hate to make her the bad guy over and over and over again. So as soon as I finished this story a couple of months ago, I got to work on a Lincori story. It's fluffy, fun, and really hot weary emoji. I'll upload the first chapter after the weekend, so check it out if you're in the neighborhood.**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed. Hopefully I'll do another Lilcy story sometime soon. Maybe with less murder next time...**


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